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THE  CHURCHES 

AND 

THE  WAGE  EARNERS 


(THE  CHURCHES 

AND 

THE   WAGE   EARNERS 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  CAUSE  AND 
CURE  OF  THEIR  SEPARATION 


BY 

C.   BERTRAND    THOMPSON 


y 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1909 


►A« 


COFYXIOBT,   1909,  BY 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  February,  1909 


M.  K.  T. 


^  d^J^^^^r^^^^^ 


/(/  0^ 


PREFACE 

A  KEENLY  analytical  friend  of  mine  is  fond 
-^  ^  of  remarking  that  nearly  all  vicious  reason- 
ing is  due  to  the  attempt  to  answer  two  ques- 
tions at  once.  This  error,  at  least,  I  have  tried 
to  avoid.  I  have  devoted  my  attention  to  a 
specific,  clear-cut  problem — ^that  of  the  gulf  be- 
tween the  masses  of  the  laboring  people  and 
the  churches  of  to-day;  and  I  have  endeavored 
to  limit  myself  strictly  to  this  question,  in  spite 
of  numerous  temptations  to  wander  into  neigh- 
boring fields. 

I  mention  this  in  order  to  forestall  a  certain 
class  of  criticisms  aimed  at  what,  to  some,  may 
appear  to  be  inadequacies  of  treatment.  I  am 
well  aware,  for  example,  that  there  are  many 
people  alienated  from  the  churches  besides  the 
workingmen.  Professional  men,  both  within 
and  without  the  churches,  stand  in  a  peculiar 
relation  to  them  which  is  vastly  interesting  and 
significant;  but  with  this  I  have  at  present 
nothing  to  do.  Similarly  with  the  economics  of 
the  "social  question"  and  of  socialism.  Their 
discussion  from  a  scientific  point  of  view  is  of 
vital  importance;  but  it  is  quite  outside  the 


viii  PREFACE 

scope  of  this  study.  I  am  concerned  primarily 
with  the  relations  of  the  churches  to  these  prob- 
lems; not  with  the  problems  themselves. 

If  it  be  asked  why,  in  the  chapter  entitled 
"  Facts,"  I  have  made  no  use  of  the  numerous 
published  statistics  of  church  membership,  the 
answer  must  be  simply  that  they  are  not  trust- 
worthy. The  Federal  Census  made  several  at- 
tempts, between  1850  and  1890,  to  enumerate 
the  population  of  the  United  States  by  church 
connection;  but  the  results  were  so  extremely 
unreliable  that  the  effort  was  finally  abandoned. 
The  "censuses"  published  year  by  year  in  the 
denominational  and  interdenominational  jour- 
nals are  quite  useless  until  we  know  in  detail 
how  they  were  compiled.  Tests  of  church  mem- 
bership are  so  loose  and  so  variable,  and  there 
is  such  a  large  subjective  element  in  ministers* 
estimates,  that  the  margin  of  error  is  very  great 
indeed.  Further,  the  motives  for  evasion  and 
misrepresentation  in  regard  to  church  affilia- 
tion are  so  strong  that  it  is  questionable  whether 
accurate  statistics  on  the  subject  can  ever  be 
compiled. 

That  other  and  perhaps  more  valid  criticisms 
of  this  work  may  be  urged  I  have  no  doubt. 
No  one  can  be  more  painfully  aware  of  its  de- 
ficiencies than   myself.     I   can  only   plead   in 


PREFACE  ix 

mitigation,  first,  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  it  is  the 
first  venture  into  this  particular  field;  and,  sec- 
ond, it  is  written  in  the  sincere  desire  to  be 
helpful  to  the  institution  and  the  class  in  which 
I  am  most  deeply  interested — organized  religion 
on  the  one  hand  and  toiling  humanity  on  the 
other.  If  it  succeed  in  the  slightest  degree  in 
clearing  up  their  mutual  misunderstandings,  I 
shall  feel  amply  repaid. 

My  indebtedness  to  other  writers  may  be 
sufficiently  obvious  from  the  footnotes  and  the 
Bibliography.  It  remains  only  to  acknowledge 
my  obligations  to  Professor  Francis  G.  Peabody, 
of  Harvard  University,  and  to  my  wife,  for 
criticism  and  assistance  at  all  stages  of  the  work. 

C.  BERTRAND  THOMPSON. 

Peabody,  Massachusetts, 
February  2,  1909. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I:  THE  ALIENATION  OF  THE  WAGE 
EARNERS  FROM  THE  CHURCHES:  ITS 
EXTENT  AND  ITS  CAUSES 

PAGE 

DEFINITIONS 3 

Chapter  I:   Facts 5 

Chapter  II:   Causes 13 

1.  Ascribable  to  the  Wage  Earners     .     .     .     .     14 

2.  Workingmen's     Complaints     against     the 

Churches 24 

3.  General  Criticisms 41 

4.  Inherent  in  Modem  Conditions      ....    46 

Chapter  III:   Conclusions  and  Queries     .    .    50 

PART  II:  THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCHES 
TOWARD  THE  WORKINGMEN,  AND  ITS 
RESULTS 

PREAMBLE 55 

Chapter  I:   Equality 57 

1.  Spiritual 57 

2.  Social 59 


xii  CONTENTS 

VAOE 

Chapter  II:   Charity 6$ 

1.  The  Old  Way 65 

2.  The  Institutional  Church 70 

3.  The  Mission 79 

4.  The  Settlement 82 

Chapter  III:  The  Social  Question    ....    86 

1.  The  Teaching  of  Jesus 87 

2.  The  Churches'  Present  Theory 96 

3.  The  Churches'  Present  Practice     ....  102 

Chapter  IV:   Government 114 

PART  III:    CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIALISM 

THE  PROBLEM 125 

Chapter  I:   Atheistic  Socialism 128 

Chapter  II:   "Christian  Socialism"    ....  140 

Chapter  III:   Inherent  Incompatibilities    .    .  145 

1.  Early  Christianity  and  Socialism    ....  145 

2.  Aims 148 

3.  Methods 151 

4.  Moral  Values 155 

Chapter  IV:    Origin  and  Correction  of  the 
Error 161 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PART  IV :   WHAT  TO  DO 

PAGE 

THE  TASK 171 

Chapter  I:  The  Nature  of  the  Opportunity  .  173 

Chapter  II:   Social  Preaching 179 

Chapter  III:   Social  Practice 190 

Chapter  IV:   Modern  Methods 196 

Chapter  V:   The  Modern  Minister    .    .    .    .212 

CONCLUSION 219 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 221 


PART  I 

THE  ALIENATION  OF  THE  WAGE- 
EARNERS  FROM  THE  CHURCHES: 
ITS  EXTENT  AND  ITS  CAUSES 


DEFINITIONS 

In  any  discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  present 
relations  of  the  workingmen  to  organized  re- 
ligion it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  distin- 
guish clearly  between  the  Church  and  the 
churches.  The  Christian  Church  is  an  abstrac-^ 
tion  which  stands  for  a  certain  fairly  definite 
set  of  principles;  the  churches  are  collections  of 
concrete  individuals  who  profess  allegiance  to 
those  principles.  Men  may  be  entirely  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  churches,  while  believing  in 
the  principles  of  the  Church;  the  principles  of 
the  Church  may  be  entirely  favorable  to  the 
aims  and  efforts  of  the  workingmen,  while  the 
members  of  the  churches  are  entirely  opposed  J 
to  them. 

Failure  to  recognize  this  difference  is  respon- 
sible for  a  great  deal  of  current  misunderstand- 
ing. The  laborer  becomes  an  opponent  of  the 
Church  because  dissatisfied  with  the  churches; 
church-members  accuse  the  laborer  of  base  in- 
gratitude and  callousness,  in  view  of  all  that  the 
Church  has  done  for  him  in  the  past  and  its 

3 


4  THE  CHURCHES 

good  intentions  toward  him  in  the  present.  This 
discussion  will  be  concerned  primarily  with  the 
churches.  It  will  have  to  do  with  the  Church 
only  in  so  far  as  its  principles  may  be  considered 
as  binding  upon  and  reflected  by  individual 
churches  and  church-members. 

By  "wage  earner,"  "workingman,"  "labor- 
er," etc.,  is  meant,  wherever  used  in  this  work, 
the  person  who  is  employed  by  another,  for 
wages,  to  work  with  his  hands.  The  term 
thus  excludes  "brain-workers,"  "soft-handed" 
workers,  and  all  salaried,  professional,  and  "in- 
dependent" business  men. 


1 


CHAPTER  I 

FACTS 

^T^HE  fact  of  the  alienation  of  the  masses  from 
the  churches  has  been  so  frequently  noted 
of  late  years  that  it  has  become  a  commonplace. 
It  is  not,  to  be  suje,  altogether  a  recent  phe- 
nomenon. As  far  back  as  1813,  Rev.  Rector 
Campbell  said:  "I  know  it  is  the  boast  of  the 
Church  of  England  to  be  the  poor  man's  church, 
but  I  am  afraid  it  is  only  our  boast."  The  sep- 
aration of  the  "poor  man"  from  the  churches 
was  then  apparently  viewed  without  any  great 
concern;  but  now  it  is  the  cause  of  considerable 
alarm.  To-day  it  is  frequently  referred  to  as  the 
churches*  crisis,  and  it  is  observed,  with  anxiety 
and  deep  foreboding,  that  the  alienation  is  in- 
creasing. The  decline  is  felt  in  all  denomina- 
tions. Small  congregations  and  empty  churches 
are  noted  everywhere.  This  is  the  case  not  only 
throughout  England  and  America,  but  on  the 
Continent  also.  In  France  "it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  an  assembly  of  Republicans  in  which 
the  great  majority  are   not   atheists."  *     Ger- 

*Mority  Kaufmann,  "Christian  Socialism,"  146. 
5 


6  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

many,  which  sets  the  tone  for  most  of  the  north- 
ern nations,  is  the  home  of  materialism.  The 
southern  nations  are  deeply  infected  with  the 
infidelity  of  France.  Russia,  encased  in  eccle- 
siastical form,  is  also  seething  with  disbelief. 
This  "eclipse  of  faith,"  as  Kaufmann  calls  it,  is 
"  peculiar  to  the  masses  of  the  workingmen  of 
Europe";  and  he  might  have  added,  of  the 
whole  civilized  world. 

Statistically,  the  rough  statement  that  "the 
people  are  leaving  the  denominations  by  the  mil- 
lions"^ is  at  least  partially  confirmed  by  the  in- 
vestigations reported  by  Dr.  Josiah  Strong.^  After 
an  exhaustive  study  of  a  number  of  selected 
representative  fields  in  different  parts  of  the 
United  States,  Strong  concludes  that  less  than 
30  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  America  are 
regular  attendants,  perhaps  20  per  cent,  are 
irregular  attendants,  while  fully  one-half  never 
attend  any  church  at  all,  Protestant  or  Cath- 
olic. This  percentage  for  attendance  seems  to 
be  too  high.  Investigations  made  by  the  writer 
in  New  England  towns,  and  by  a  friend  in  a  large 
part  of  Boston,  would  not  warrant  an  estimate 
of  even  15  per  cent,  of  the  population  as  regular 
attendants.     In  the  United  States  popular  in- 

*  Algernon  S.  Crapsey,  "Religion  and  Politics,"  315. 
»  Strong,  "New  Era,"  203/. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  7 

terest  in  church-going  seems  to  be  greater  in  the 
West  than  in  the  East;  but  Strong's  figures  are 
unduly  Hberal  estimates  for  any  part  of  the 
country. 

Statistics  also  show  that  church  membership 
is  steadily  declining  in  proportion  to  popula- 
tion. Dr.  Strong  says:*  "If  the  gain  of  the 
Church  on  the  population  during  the  first  half 
of  the  [nineteenth]  century  is  represented  by  80, 
during  the  last  half  it  is  represented  by  20, 
during  the  last  twenty  years  it  is  represented 
by  4,  and  during  the  last  ten  years  it  is  repre- 
sented by  I." 

The  attitude  of  the  non-attendants  is  of  all 
grades  of  opposition,  from  mere  indifference  to 
positive  antipathy.  Sometimes  it  is  described 
as  "indifference  to  theology"  (this  is  found 
within  the  churches  also);  more  often  it  takes 
the  more  serious  form  of  indifference  or  even 
hostility  to  religion  itself.  Occasionally  there 
appears  a  personal  distrust  of  the  church  or  the 
minister,  and  even  a  decided  "  antipathy  to  par- 
sons." ^  As  we  shall  soon  have  abundant  occa- 
sion to  see,  the  attitude  of  the  majority  of  class- 
conscious  workingmen  is,  on  the  whole,  an  atti- 

*  Cited  in  Literary   Digest,   June   13,    1908;    cf.  Joseph   H. 
Crooker,  "The  Church  of  To-day,"  56. 
"Paul  Gohre,  "Three  Months  in  a  Workshop,"  175. 


8  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

tude  of  active  hostility  to  anything  and  every- 
thing connected  with  the  churches. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  people  who 
are  left  in  the  churches  are  either  the  well-to-do 
and  wealthy,  "the  hereditary  rich,  sheltered 
classes,"  or  the  young  people  from  the  shops 
and  the  offices,  the  "soft-handed"  workers. 
The  Protestant  churches,  as  a  rule,  are  not  made 
up  of  the  common  people,  but  rather  of  the  em- 
ployers. *  There  is  an  apparent  exception  to 
this  rule  in  the  Negro  churches  in  America, 
which  are  made  up  mainly  of  workingmen.^ 
This  is  to  be  explained,  probably,  on  the  same 
ground  as  the  other  apparent  exception,  that  of 
the  Catholic  churches  in  Ireland:  the  fact  that 
the  people  as  a  whole  are  struggling  together 
for  justice  and  freedom.  In  both  cases  the  an- 
tagonism of  their  environment  drives  them  to- 
gether to  the  consolations  and  hopes  of  religion, 
and  in  both  cases,  also,  the  usually  superior  edu- 
cation of  their  clergy  leads  all  classes  to  look 
naturally  to  them  for  leadership. 

*  It  is  just  this  shifting  of  the  churches  "from  the  plain  people 
to  the  rich"  which  "must  be  looked  upon  with  discomfort  and 
alarm,"  according  to  President  Roosevelt.  There  is  a  danger  of 
religion  itself  becoming  a  class  matter,  thus  aggravating  the  al- 
ready increasing  tendency  toward  "class"  alignment. 

'R.  R.  Wright,  "Social  Work  and  Influence  of  the  Negro 
Church,  30;  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 
Social  Science,"  516. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  9 

The  non-church-going  class  consists  mainly 
of  farmers,  factory-workers,  and,  in  America, 
immigrants.  Strong's  investigations  in  New 
England,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  show  a  very 
small  percentage  of  attendance  from  farmers. 
As  for  the  factory-workers,  it  has  been  said  by 
a  churchman  *  who  spent  part  of  his  life  among 
them,  that  so  far  as  they  are  concerned  the 
church  has  been  an  utter  failure.  The  attitude 
of  some  of  them  toward  the  churches  he  de- 
scribes as  "  indecent."  The  extent  of  the  hos- 
tility of  some  of  them  is  illustrated  by  the  state- 
ment of  a  labor  leader:^  "The  American 
workingman  hates  the  very  shadow  that  the 
spire  of  the  village  church  casts  across  his  path- 
way." In  England,  Charles  Booth,  perhaps  the 
most  competent  observer  we  could  cite,  says 
that  the  attitude  of  the  workshop  is  "  contempt- 
uous." 

In  a  study  of  the  relations  of  immigrants  to 
the  churches  considerable  allowance  must  be 
made  for  the  strong  Protestant  prejudices  of  the 
investigators.  Josiah  Strong  says  ^  that  "a 
majority  of  immigrants  believe  either  in  a  per- 
verted or  superstitious  form  of  Christianity  or 

*  Gohre,  I.  c.  187. 

*  Cited  by  H.  F.  Perry,  "The  Workingman's  Alienation  from 
the  Church,"  4  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  626. 

*L.  c.  191. 


lo  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

in  none  at  all."  The  figures  of  Grose  *  show 
that  52  per  cent,  of  the  immigrants  are,  when 
they  land,  nominally  Christian.  But  residence 
in  America  soon  begins  to  tell  on  their  nominal 
allegiance,  and  there  is  everywhere  a  falling  off. 
The  Catholics  are  losing  the  Italians,  the 
French,  the  Germans,  the  Hungarians,  the  Bo- 
hemians, and  the  Poles.  There  are  over  300 
Bohemian  freethinking  societies  in  the  country. 
The  Irish  and  the  recent  flood  of  immigrants 
from  south-eastern  Europe — Slovaks,  Sloven- 
ians, Bosnians,  Herzegovinians,  Bulgarians, 
Servians,  Montenegrins,  Ruthenians,  and  some 
of  the  Lithuanians — remain  devout  Catholics. 
Time,  and  the  efforts  of  Protestant  "mission- 
aries," will  probably  destroy  the  allegiance  of 
these  peoples,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the 
Irish. 

This  tendency  toward  defection  is  not  by  any 
means  limited  to  the  Christian  immigrants.  In 
America  and  in  England  the  Jews  are  leaving 
their  ancestral  synagogues  in  great  and  increas- 
ing numbers. 

Women  have  always  preponderated  in  church 
congregations,  and  they  are  now  relied  upon  as 
the  main  support  of  the  average  church;    but 

'N.  B.  Grose,  "Aliens  or  Americans?";  the  most  elaborate 
investigation  of  this  subject  I  have  seen. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  ii 

there  is  a  falling  off  even  in  their  attendance 
now  becoming  noticeable.  "Women  are  begin- 
ning to  stay  away  as  they  take  their  place  in 
economic  life,"  says  Campbell.*  The  churches*  V< 
disregard  of  their  economic  and  social  needs  is 
driving  many  of  them,  especially  in  cities,  into 
other  movements.  Unions  and  lodges  have 
reached  the  women  with  their  appeal;  and  to  it 
the  women  are  responding,  to  the  manifest  dis- 
advantage of  the  churches. 

This  movement  away  from  the  churches  is 
more  accentuated  in  cities  than  in  their  suburbs, 
as  might  be  expected  from  the  usual  difference 
in  the  nature  of  their  populations,  as  well  as  for 
other  reasons.  In  the  cities,  the  centres  of  man- 
ufacture and  of  commerce,  "the  overwhelming  -.j 
proportion  of  workingmen  is  out  of  touch  with 
the  churches."  ^  Their  indifference  and  hos- 
tility in  London,  New  York,  and  Chicago,  is 
particularly  noticeable.  In  London  only  6  per 
cent,  of  the  people  attend  church,  while  in  the 
suburbs  the  percentage  is  29.  In  other  large 
cities  and  their  environs  the  percentages  are 
similar. 

One  who  is  actively  engaged  in  evangelistic 

*  Campbell,  "Christianity  and  the  Social  Order,"  2;  of.  Math- 
ews, "The  Church  and  the  Changing  Order,"  201. 

» J.  W.  Cochran,  "The  Church  and  the  Working  Man,"  30 
Ann.  Am.  Ac,  451. 


12  THE  CHURCHES 

work  may  sometimes  be  led  to  think  that  popu- 
lar attendance  is  increasing  rather  than  decreas- 
ing, because  he  finds  his  own  congregations 
full.  A  famous  preacher  will  observe  that  he 
meets  large  congregations  wherever  he  goes. 
But  he  is  apt  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  large 
congregation  his  reputation  has  drawn  means 
smaller  congregations  somewhere  else;  that  he 
is  only  taking  members  out  of  other  churches, 
and  is  leaving  the  mass  of  the  people  untouched. 
When  a  brilliant  preacher  settles  in  a  parish  and 
"builds  it  up,"  he  has  usually,  in  the  picturesque 
language  of  Judson,^  "only  given  the  ecclesias- 
tical kaleidoscope  a  turn,  and  produced  a  new 
arrangement  of  the  same  old  bits  of  colored 
glass."  This  method  is  worked  frequently  and 
in  all  places.  It  may  be  an  advantage  to  the  in- 
dividual who  finds  thereby  a  more  congenial 
church  home;  but  obviously  it  does  not  in  the 
least  alter  the  proportions  of  those  "in"  and 
those  "out"  of  the  churches. 

'  Edward  Judson,  "The   Church  in   Its  Social   Aspect,"   30 
Ann,  Am.  Ac,  430. 


CHAPTER  II 

CAUSES 

"IT /"HEN  we  turn  to  seek  the  causes  for  this 
^  '  widespread  movement  we  shall  find  them 
to  be  numerous  and  complex.  Some  of  them 
seem  to  be  rooted  in  the  very  constitution  of  hu- 
man nature;  some  are  the  results  of  recent  de- 
velopments in  social  life.  Some  causes  may  be 
called  the  "fault"  of  the  workingmen  or  of  the 
churches;  others  are  no  one's  fault,  but  are  sim- 
ply inevitable  conditions  of  development.  Fair- 
bairn's  statement  *  that  the  causes  of  alienation 
are  involved  in  the  whole  process  which  has 
evolved  the  present  social  order  is  in  a  sense 
true;  but  the  process  referred  to  is  an  exceed- 
ingly complex  one,  and  we  shall  find  it  more 
profitable  to  seek  for  more  specific  reasons. 

What  is  needed  at  present  is  a  comprehensive 
and  detailed  study  of  the  reasons,  whether  ulti- 
mately valid  or  not,  which  are  currently  assigned 
for  the  popular  indifference  to  churches.  Espe- 
cially do  we  need  such  a  study  from  the  point  of 

*  Fairbairn,  "Religion  in  History  and  in  Modern  Life,"  19. 
13 


14  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

view  of  one  who  believes  that  the  churches  alone 
y  are  or  should  be  the  generators  and  conservators 
of  that  religious  spirit  without  which  the  high- 
est civilization  cannot  persist;  and  who  believes, 
therefore,  that  the  problem  now  under  discussion 
is  the  most  important  problem  that  could  pos- 
sibly engage  our  attention.  In  view  of  the  facts 
as  they  are,  the  best  friend  of  the  churches  is  not 
the  man  who,  ostrich-like,  compliments  himself 
and  his  little  congregation  on  "the  flourishing 
state  of  religion,"  but  is  rather  the  man  who,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  physician  intent  upon  eflPecting 
a  cure,  ascertains  and  describes  the  truth,  at 
whatever  risk  of  misunderstanding  and  personal 
inconvenience  to  himself. 

I.  Ascrihahle  to  the  Wage-Earners 

The  wage- workers'  indifi^erence  to  the  churches 
is  at  least  partly  for  the  same  reason  as  that  of 
any  one  else — indifference  and  resistance  to  the 
call  of  the  higher  life.  They  have  no  conscious- 
ness of  guilt  or  sin,  or  of  special  need,  and  they 
assume  that  the  churches  are  only  for  those  who 
have.  Moral  flabbiness,  weakness,  viciousness — 
whether  in  the  cities,  where  they  are  the  results 
of  overcrowding  and  bad  influences,  or  in  the 
country,  where  isolation  has  brought  about  de- 
generation and  demoralization — are  largely  re- 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  15 

sponsible  for  the  present  straits  of  the  churches. 
The  people  have  no  longer  any  feeling  of  duty 
toward  organized  religion.  The  churches  have 
no  charm  for  them,  and  they  use  their  Sundays 
for  rest  and  recreation.  This  "total  depravity" 
theory,  however,  applies  to  the  "classes"  as 
well  as  to  the  "masses";  to  the  professional 
and  business  man  as  well  as  to  the  laboring  man; 
and  it  therefore  does  not  entirely  account  for  the 
movement  under  investigation,  which  is  so  dis- 
tinctively a  working-class  movement. 

Another  reason,  and  one  of  great  importance,  ' 
is  the  growth  of  materialism  among  the  masses. 
"Men  have  grown  hard,"  said  a  workingman,* 
"under  bitter  conditions,  and  think  of  God  as 
unjust  and  unkind,  if  there  be  any  God."  The 
belief  in  Providence  has  disappeared.  If  there 
is  any  purpose  in  the  universe,  it  is  felt  to  be  evil 
rather  than  worshipful.  Further,  the  dealings 
of  the  average  artisan  with  the  forces  of  nature 
are  such  as  to  drive  from  his  mind  any  thought 
of  the  supernatural.  "  Force"  and  "  matter"  are 
all  that  the  mechanic  needs  to  answer  all  the 
questions  he  is  wise  enough  to  ask;  he  has  no 
place  for  the  hypothesis  of  a  God.  In  Germany 
this  tendency  has  been  greatly  fostered  by  the 
anti-Christian  nature  of  the  literature  created 

*  Perry,  4  Am.  Jour.  Soc,  625. 


V 


i6  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

within  the  last  forty  years  to  satisfy  the  popular 
demand  for  an  education.  This  literature  is  sat- 
urated with  the  materialism  of  the  third  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  has  spread  through 
all  nations.  The  workman  has  taken  a  ma- 
terialistic, negative  attitude  toward  the  soul, 
toward  all  things  of  the  spirit,  all  ideals;  conse- 
quently religion  has  no  content  for  him.  But 
this  factor,  again,  is  not  peculiar  to  the  working 
people;  hence  is  not  a  sufficient  answer  to  our 
particular  problem. 

Another  reason,  and  one  of  such  vast  po- 
tency as  to  demand  special  study,  is  the  spread 
of  socialism.  "Among  the  more  radical  social 
reformers  the  attitude  toward  religion  is  hos- 
tile." *  Says  Mr.  Charles  Stelzle,  Secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Department  of  Labor:  "Socialism 
has  become  for  thousands  of  men  a  substitute 
for  the  church."  The  organized  opposition  to 
Christianity  which  is  represented  by  socialism 
has  been  too  long  overlooked  and  neglected;  but 
the  detailed  discussion  of  it  must  be  reserved  for 
another  part  of  this  book.^ 

Short  of  socialism,  however,  there  is  the 
whole  "labor  movement,"  including  trade  un- 

>  Francis  G.  Peabody,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question," 

15- 
'  See  below,  Part  III. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  17 

ionism  and  all  the  numerous  movements  for  the 
alleviation  of  the  laborers'  lot,  which  do  not  go 
the  length  of  social  revolution.  With  the  ad- 
vance of  economic  and  social  science,  ways  and 
means  for  the  betterment  of  the  position  of  the 
working  people  are  becoming  more  and  more 
clear;  "  social  work"  has  become  practicable  and 
effective,  and  its  urgent  appeal  is  drawing 
thousands  of  the  best  natures  into  its  service. 
As  will  appear  later,  the  churches  have  allowed 
this  work  to  develop  independently  of  them,  and 
now  absorption  in  it  is  working  deleteriously  to 
the  churches'  interests.  The  churches  also  are 
or  may  be  centres  of  social  service  and  agents  of 
social  reform;  but  differences  in  aim  and  in 
method  have  engendered  a  certain  distrust  and 
hostility  between  them  and  the  later  "secular" 
forms  of  service.  Thus,  the  insistence  of  the 
churches  on  the  upholding  of  law  and  order  is 
distasteful  to  the  more  ardent  reformers.  And 
for  those  whose  chief  aim  is  the  destruction  of  the 
existing  order  of  things,  which  is  certainly  the 
aim  of  the  most  radical,  a  negative  religion,  or 
the  negation  of  religion,  has,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, superior  attractions. 

Connected  in  a  way  with  some  of  these  re- 
form movements  are  numerous  misunderstand- 
ings of  the  object  and  meaning  of  religion  which 


i8  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

are  partly  responsible  for  the  hostile  attitude  of 
the  people.  Christianity  is  charged  with  failure 
to  eliminate  poverty — religion,  it  is  said,  may 
have  been  of  some  use  once,  but  is  of  none  now.* 
The  church  is  looked  upon  as  the  bulwark  and 
tool  of  capitalism,  and  may  be  referred  to  thus: 
"The  church  and  the  brothel,  police  powers  and 
peace  powers;  in  fact,  all  those  things  which  we 
look  upon  as  necessary  for  capitalistic  stability."  ^ 
The  workingmen*s  contact  with  their  employers 
in  competitive  and  selfish  dickerings  gives  them 
the  impression  that  the  church  stands  for  the 
principles  they  there  see  exemplified.  Further, 
they  are  inclined  to  identify  religion  with  "  belief 
in  the  Bible,"  and  when  they  have  outgrown  the 
antiquated  view  of  the  Bible  which  is  taught  in 
most  Sunday-schools,  parochial  schools,  and  in 
many  common  schools  (as,  for  example,  in  Ger- 
many), they  discard  religion  at  the  same  time 
that  they  are  forced  to  give  up  their  old  view  of 
scriptural  authority.  Then  follows  a  period, 
common  to  all  half-educated  people,  when  "le- 
gal proof"  of  religion  is  demanded.  The  falla- 
cies involved  in  all  these  misunderstandings  can 
be  easily  pointed  out;  but  the  fact  in  which  we 

*  G6hre,  /.  c.  164, 173. 

'  Chicago  Convention  Industrial  Workmen  of  the  World  (a  la- 
bor organization  of  Socialistic  tendencies),  1905. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  19 

are  now  interested  is  that  the  workmen  do  have 
them,  and  that  they  are  contributory  to  their  in- 
difference and  hostihty  to  the  churches. 

Somewhat  analogous  to  these  is  the  peculiar 
misinterpretation  of  religious  observances  for 
which  Veblen  is  responsible.*  Ritual,  he  says, 
is  an  exhibition  of  "vicarious  leisure,"  attesting 
the  greatness  of  a  lord  in  whose  service  time  and 
effort  may  be  recklessly  wasted.  "  Conspicuous 
waste"  is  shown  in  gorgeous  vestments,  churches, 
and  other  "devout  consumption."  "The  con- 
sumption of  ceremonial  paraphernalia  required 
by  any  cult,  in  the  way  of  shrines,  temples, 
churches,  vestments,  sacrifices,  sacraments,  holi- 
day attire,  etc.,  serves  no  immediate  material 
end.  It  may  be  broadly  characterized  as  items 
of  conspicuous  waste."  Exceptional  devoutness 
— i.e.,  any  at  all — is  "in  all  cases  an  atavistic 
trait,"  allying  one  with  criminals  and  "sports" 
and  the  classes  of  low  intelligence  and  supersti- 
tion. "So  far  as  concerns  the  industrial  effi- 
ciency of  the  modern  community,  the  character- 
istic traits  of  the  devout  temperament  are  a 
hindrance  rather  than  a  help."  These  are  not, 
however,  explanations  of  the  obsolescence  of  re- 
ligion in  industrial  communities,  for  the  masses 
of  the  people  have  never  been  capable  of  the 

» Thorstein  Veblen,  "The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class." 


20  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

degree  of  sophistication  evidenced  by  these 
ideas. 

Another  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of 
many  of  the  working  people — that  religion  is 
nothing  but  a  lucrative  profession  * — has  had 
a  shadow  of  foundation  in  the  undue  emphasis 
which  has  frequently  been  laid  upon  the  financial 
needs  and  successes  of  the  church.  Methods  of 
public  and  private  appeal  have  often  savored  of 
commercialism  in  a  high  degree.  The  popular 
jest  about  sending  for  the  pastor  instead  of  the 
doctor  when  the  small  boy  had  swallowed  the 
f  penny,  on  the  ground  that  "the  pastor  could  get 
money  out  anybody,'*  has  an  element  of  bitter- 
ness in  it.  The  crowds  which  follow  "Billy" 
Sunday  do  so  largely  as  a  tribute  to  his  wonder- 
ful money-making  capacity;  and  the  popular 
admiration  for  enormous  "Missionary  Funds," 
etc.,  is  well  known.  But  the  fact  is  overlooked 
that  every  triumph  of  this  sort  brings  to  religion 
an  ever  increasing  portion  of  popular  disrespect. 

One  of  the  chief  causes  of  unfriendliness  work- 
ing in  the  case  of  the  immigrants  is  the  fact  that 
emigration  is  frequently  due  to  religious  perse- 
cution or  oppression  at  home.     They  do  not 

*  "The  English  Established  Church  will  more  readily  pardon 
an  attack  on  38  of  its  39  articles  than  on  1-39  of  its  income," 
Karl  Marx,  "Capital,"  preface  to  First  Edition. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  21 

move,  as  did  some  of  the  early  emigrants  to 
America,  in  order  to  establish  their  own  wor- 
ship where  they  would  be  unmolested,  but  rather 
to  escape  altogether  from  a  religion  which  they 
identify  with  State  churches.  Freedom  in  Amer- 
ica includes  freedom  from  the  domination  of 
church  and  priesthood,  and  this  is  as  eagerly 
sought  as  is  political  freedom.  When  America 
is  reached,  the  first  reaction  is  into  atheism, 
complete  alienation  not  only  from  the  churches 
but  from  religion  itself;  later  generations  may 
begin  to  swing  back,  as  is  sometimes  observed, 
but  they  rarely  reenter  the  churches.  The  vast 
importance  of  this  fact  will  be  appreciated  when 
it  is  remembered  that  nearly  one-half  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  United  States  is  foreign  by  birth 
or  parentage,  and  over  three-quarters  of  the 
population  in  the  large  cities.*  The  conse- 
quences of  this  are  far-reaching.  This  permea- 
tion of  American  life  by  an  anti-church  influ- 
ence has  destroyed  the  power  of  old  American 
and  English  habits.  By  the  introduction  of 
Continental  ideas  of  the  Sabbath  it  has  helped' 
to  reduce  church  attendance.  And  especially  it 
has  set  the  example,  the  fashion,  against  church- 
going.     It  has  started  the  "endless  chain"  of 

>  Strong, /.  c,  190;  William  Z.  Ripley,  "Races  in  the  United 
States,"  Atl.  Mo.,  vol.  CII,  p.  745. 


22  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

imitation;    and  in  this  case  imitation  has  been 
particularly  easy,  and  therefore  popular. 

For,  to  return  from  immigrants  to  natives, 
fashion  operates  in  the  matter  of  church-going 
as  in  everything  else.  Notice,  for  example,  the 
effect  on  the  Italian  waiters  of  Soho,  in  London, 
of  the  worldliness  of  the  society  they  are  thrown 
in  contact  with,  as  reported  by  Booth.  This 
"high"  society  does  not  go  to  church;  the  wait- 
ers must  be  fashionable.  In  America  "society" 
does  go  to  church,  and  the  waiters  would  like  to 
follow;  but  here  another  cause  intervenes,  viz., 
the  fact  that  "society"  makes  church-going  ex- 
pensive. There  is  no  doubt  that  the  costliness 
of  "holiday  attire"  keeps  out  many  working- 
men  and  their  families.  "Working  clothes" 
are  not,  by  general  consent,  "Sunday  clothes." 
To  equip  oneself  and  a  family  of  children  in  the 
latter  is  often  a  financial  impossibility.  And 
the  further  necessity  of  keeping  up  with  the 
better  situated  members  of  the  church  in  pew- 
rents,  subscriptions,  donations  to  charity,  to 
bazaars,  etc.,  also  militates  strongly  against  the 
workingman  with  small  wages.  This  process  of 
exclusion  is  cumulative;  for  with  each  decrease 
in  membership  the  demands  on  those  who  are  left 
become  greater — ^with  the  final  result  that  none 
but  the  well-to-do  can  afford  the  luxury  of  religion. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  23 

The  causes  of  separation  thus  far  adduced — 
depravity,  indifference,  self-interest,  misunder- 
standing, imitation — may  fairly  be  charged  to 
the  workingmen.  Before  leaving  this  part  of 
the  subject  to  consider  the  charges  which  are 
levelled  against  the  churches  with  more  or  less 
justification,  it  is  only  fair  to  add  another  cause, 
which  is  somewhat  in  extenuation  of  the  work- 
ingmen's  faults  and  mistakes:  the  influence  of 
their  economic  position  upon  the  possibility  of 
their  responses  to  religious  appeal. 

Living  on  the  verge  of  poverty,  with  irregu- 
larity and  uncertainty  of  employment,  must  be 
admitted  to  be  not  conducive  to  the  best  soul 
life.  Grinding  anxiety  about  the  mere  means  of 
subsistence  shuts  out  concern  for  spiritual  wel- 
fare. The  spirit  must  wait  until  the  body  is  fed 
and  clothed.  Modem  factory  conditions  are 
unfavorable  to  religious  life.  Long  and  ex- 
hausting hours  of  labor  leave  no  time  nor  energy 
for  such  a  nicely  balanced  view  of  the  whole  sit- 
uation as  the  preacher  would  like  to  see;  and  the 
lassitude  of  the  one  rest-day  out  of  seven  is  not 
promotive  of  church-going.  A  tired  body 
means  a  tired  mind;  and  the  average  service 
and  sermon  are,  to  say  the  least,  not  exactly 
recreative.  The  inability  to  benefit  by  the 
churches'   ministrations  may  become  chronic. 


U  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

Women  and  children  whose  lives  are  narrowed 
and  stunted  by  factory  and  sweat-shop  work  are 
hardly  to  be  blamed  if  they  finally  become  un- 
able to  see  clearly  the  worth  of  the  church  and 
the  value  of  a  religious  life,  and  the  beauty  of 
ideals.  It  is  psychologically  impossible  that 
they  should.  And  it  is  not  their  fault.  Dr. 
Crooker  says:  "It  is  a  serious  question  whether 
our  great  captains  of  industry  and  leaders  of 
society  are  not  the  worst  desecrators  of  the  Sab- 
bath that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  though  they 
themselves  may  regularly  occupy  a  richly  cush- 
ioned pew!'*  ^  It  is  not  the  Sabbath  only  which 
is  desecrated :  it  is  the  divinity  of  human  souls. 

2.  Workingmens  Complaints  against  the 
Churches 

In  the  following  discussion  of  those  causes  of 
alienation  which  may  be  properly  charged  to 
the  churches  there  is  no  intention  to  offer  judg- 
ment on  the  sincerity  of  the  churches'  work,  nor 
on  its  theological  or  theoretical  correctness.  It 
may  be  that  many  of  the  charges  against  the 
churches  are  false  generalizations  from  too  few 
particulars,  though  many  of  them  are  admitted 
by  ecclesiastical  writers;  in  regard  to  others  the 
churches  may  admit  the  facts  but  insist  that 

*  Crooker,  /.  c,  31. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  25 

their  position  is  nevertheless  the  right  one.  It 
would,  of  course,  be  much  more  to  the  taste  of 
all  churchmen,  including  myself,  to  suppress  or 
repel  these  allegations.  The  immense  range  and  / 
importance  of  the  churches'  benefits  to  human-  i  ^ 
ity  are  incontestable,  but  their  consideration 
belongs  elsewhere.  The  justification  for  enu- 
merating the  following  charges  against  the 
churches  is  simply  that  there  is  at  least  an  ele- 
ment of  truth  in  all  of  them,  or,  at  any  rate,  the 
belief  that  they  are  true  is  a  large  contributing 
factor  to  the  present  condition.  The  churches' 
answer  to  these  will  be  considered  later  in  this 
study.* 

First  among  these  reasons  must  be  placed  the 
exclusiveness  of  the  churches  as  to-day  consti-    1 
tuted.    Made  up  as  they  now  are  mainly  of  the 
well-to-do  and  the  rich,  there  is  in  them   an 
indifference  and  even   antipathy  to  the  hand- 
worker which  a  most  effective  bar  to  his  inter-   j 
est  in  them.     Private   ownership    of   pews  is 
one  means  used,  intentionally  or  unintentionally, 
to  exclude    the    "undesirable."     The   fear  of    ' 
"swamping"  by  the  influx  of  foreigners  hangs 
always   over   the    Protestant   churches   in   the 
Northern  States  and  in  the  great  cities,  and  any 
missionary  work  in  their  immediate  neighbor-  j 

»  See  below,  Part  II. 


1 


26  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

1  . 

I  hood  IS  sure  to  be  frowned  upon  unless  it  be  dl- 

'rected  toward  the  founding  of  separate  churches 
for  them.  As  one  churchman  puts  it,  the  defec- 
ation of  the  common  people  is  due  largely  to  the 
]*  laziness  and  pride  of  the  old  churches."  *  '^ 

Underlying  this  is  the  insistence  on  social  dis- 
tinctions which  is  so  objectionable  to  all  people 
discriminated  against.  This,  as  already  sug- 
gested, is  fostered  by  the  system  of  pew  rents, 
by  which  the  wealthier  are  enabled  to  have  the 
"chief  seats  in  the  synagogue."  The  poor  have 
also  noticed  that,  although  there  are  many 
churches  in  which  all  social  grades  mingle,  there 
is  a  tendency  for  the  rich  to  appropriate  certain 
churches  to  themselves  and  build  missions  for 
the  "  lower  classes,"  and  the  poor  refuse  to  snap 
at  the  bone  thrown  them.  Says  Dr.  Judson: 
"The  poor  think  the  rich  are  appropriating  all 
the  best  things  which  are  supposed  to  help  peo- 
ple heavenward,  as  the  best  preaching,  music 
and  architecture."  ^  Even  the  idea  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  is  alleged  to  appertain  to  a 
"regime  of  status."  There  is  also  a  notable 
lack  of  democracy  in  the  government  of  churches, 
which  are  too  often  ruled  by  wealth  instead  of 
by  numbers.    It  is  not  surprising  that  in  view  of 

*  Charles  Stelzle,  "Christianity's  Storm  Centre,"  15. 
•Judson,  30  "Ann.  Am.  Ac,"  433. 


\y^  Ql-evwu.  vyvMt-  cv^ 


^r 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  27 

this  situation  the  people  are  seeking  those  places 
in  which  their  social  equality  is  in  no  danger  of 
not  being  recognized,  such  as  lodges  and  sa- 
loons. The  enormous  growth  of  lodges  and 
fraternal  orders,  as  shown  statistically,^  and  the 
immense  popularity  of  saloons,  are  in  striking 
and  significant  contrast  to  the  decline  and  neg- 
lect of  the  churches. 

Closely  allied  to  this  undemocracy  is  the  ap- 
parent "excessive  subserviency"  of  the  churches 
to  political  power  in  the  older  countries  and  to 
wealth  in  the  newer.  Where  the  church  is 
established  "  it  is  the  constant  temptation  of  the 
king-made  bishop  to  attune  his  message  to  the 
kingly  ear."  ^  In  America,  where  the  churches 
are  free,  there  is  a  strong  suspicion  of  an  insidi- 
ous commercial  control  of  the  pulpit,  evidenced 
by  its  failure  to  rebuke  wickedness  in  high 
places  and  by  its  protection  of  the  "crimi- 
2ialoid," '  the  social  brigand  who  accumulates 
a  fortune  by  the  legal  evasion  of  the  law.  The 
church  is  felt  to  be  "  a  corporate  support  of  fi- 
nancial sinners."  That  there  has  been  some 
occasion  for  this  belief  cannot  be  denied.  If  the 
minister    has    not    openly    defended    practices 


*  Strong,  /.  c,  128;  Crooker,  /.  c,  36. 

'  Crapsey,  /.  c,  230. 

'  Edward  A.  Ross,  "Sin  and  Society." 


28  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

which  common  morality  knew  to  be  wrong,  he 
has  certainly  been  silent  many  times  when  he 
was  expected  to  speak.  The  dependence  of  the 
churches  upon  the  financial  support  of  the 
wealthy  has  an  inevitable  tendency  in  this  di- 
rection/ The  exceptions  to  this  are,  however, 
so  numerous  that  there  is  an  element  of  unfair- 
ness in  the  allegation.  In  all  ages  of  the  Church's 
history,  before  and  since  Christ,  there  have 
never  been  lacking  churchmen  whose  voices 
have  been  heard  in  scathing  denunciation  of  the 
wealthy  depredator  and  the  oppressor  of  wid- 
ows and  orphans. 

Connected  with  this  is  a  charge,  not  against 
the  church,  but  against  its  members,  which 
carries  such  weight  that  Charles  Booth  is  moved 
to  call  the  objection  to  church  membership 
based  on  it  an  evidence  of  positive  moral  qual- 
ity in  the  workingmen : '     the  inconsistencies, 


*  Cf.  this  paragraph  from  the  New  York  'Evening  Post:  "If 
.  .  .  wants  to  apply  the  principles  of  morals  to  politics  and  finance, 
to  speak  out  boldly,  no  matter  whose  feelings  are  hurt,  to  attempt 
the  diflScult  and  unpopular  task  of  bringing  religion  into  contact 
with  daily  life  and  thought,  he  must  gather  an  independent  fol- 
lowing, which  has  confidence  in  his  purposes  and  his  ideals.  So 
must  any  minister  who  wishes  to  be  absolutely  unmuzzled.  This 
is  one  reason  why  strong  men — as  the  churches  themselves  com- 
plain— refuse  the  ministry  as  a  career ;  and  one  reason  why  the 
churches  lack  vitality." 

*  Charles  Booth,  "Life  and  Labour  in  London,  Part  III,  Re- 
ligious Influences,"  vol.  I,  pp.  85-90. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  29 

or,  as  it  has  been  more  strongly  put,  the  hypoc- 
risy, of  Christians.  The  divergence  between 
profession  and  practice,  the  incompatibility  of 
pious  humility  on  Sunday  with  laxity  of  con- 
science during  the  week,  is  a  potent  cause  of 
disaffection.  "The  criminaloid  with  his  loins  -r- 
girt  about  with  religiosity,"  ^  stands  up  on  Sun- 
day in  the  "well  dressed  congregation  singing:^ 

He  hath  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  seats,  and 
exalted  them  of  low  degree; 

He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things,  and  the 
rich  he  hath  sent  empty  away," 

and  the  spectacle  is  not  conducive  to  healing  the 
breach.  The  churches  have,  in  practice,  toler-  f 
ated  a  double  standard  of  morality,  "private" 
and  "  business."  "  Probably  nothing  so  degrades 
the  Christian  religion  in  the  view  of  men  of  the 
world  as  the  conformity  of  Christian  churches 
and  Christian  believers  to  the  doctrine  of  ethi-  ^ 
cal  bimetallism,"  says  Dr.  Peabody;^  and  yet 
this  is  the  doctrine  which  is  quite  often  exem- 
plified before  the  workingmen. 

They  cite  the  cases  of  Jim  Fisk  and  of  the 
Tweed  Ring,  and  of  others  not  yet  in  their 
graves,  and  insist  that  such  conduct  as  theirs  is 

*  Ross,  /.  c,  63. 

'  Reginald  J.  Campbell,  I.  c,  iii. 

*  Peabody,  /.  c,  221. 


30  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

carried  on  to-day  on  a  far  more  extensive  scale 
by  men  who  attend  divine  service  with  the  regu- 
larity of  a  devotee.  Charity  and  unselfishness 
are  preached  and  believed  in  on  Sunday,  and 
are  then  exhibited  in  "  the  cultivation  of  a  com- 
fortable religious  satisfaction"  only.  The  world 
is  divided  off  into  compartments  of  sacred  and 
secular,  and  religion,  under  a  variety  of  ad- 
verse influences,  is  compelled  to  confine  itself  to 
the  former.  The  ministers  are  urged  to  content 
themselves  with  theology,  worship,  devoutness, 
piety.  It  is  unfortunately  true  that,  as  the  re- 
sult of  a  process  of  selection  which  has  been 
going  on  now  for  many  years,  "One's  sense  of 
the  proprieties  is  readily  offended  by  a  too  de- 
tailed and  intimate  a  handling  of  industrial  and 
other  purely  human  questions  at  the  hands  of 
/  the  clergy."  * 

It  was  said  at  a  convention  of  American  work- 
men of  socialistic  affinities  in  Chicago,  that  the 
Christian  Church  "raises  a  magnificent  ideal  in 
the  remote  future,  to  be  arrived  at  some  time 
sooner  or  later,  and  in  the  meantime  practises 
all  possible  wrong."  ^  The  exaggeration  and 
injustice  of  this  statement  are  patent;  but  if  for 
"Christian  Church"  we  substitute  "professed 

» Veblen,  /.  c,  316. 

•  Cochran,  30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  453. 


/ 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  31 

Christians,"  there  is  enough  truth  in  it  to  de- 
mand the  most  serious  consideration. 

To  many  it  appears  that  the  churches  have  too 
often  heeded  the  call  to  return  to  the  "simple 
Gospel,"  which  is  understood  as  another  way  of 
telling  them  to  keep  their  hands  off  of  all  living 
issues.  This  has  been  called  the  "  sociological ; 
age  of  the  world";  and  the  neglect  of  social 
teaching  in  favor  of  a  narrow  and  limited  the- 
ology,  or  even  in  favor  of  a  broad  and  progres-  | 
sive  one,  is  one  of  the  chief  errors  of  the  churches.  | 
In  the  past  they  have  often  failed  to  adjust 
themselves  to  their  changing  environment,  and 
now  that  they  are  old  and  "set"  they  are  be- 
coming more  and  more  unable  to  do  so.  "The 
laborers'  demands  are  insistent  and  immediate; 
the  church  institution  cannot  adjust  itself  to 
them  so  quickly."  It  is  notorious  that  as  a  rule 
the  churches  do  not  treat  the  most  important 
issues  as  they  arise.  The  "religious  paralysis" 
in  America  has  been  attributed  largely  to  "the 
failure  of  the  church  to  grasp  the  moral  signifi-  < 
cance  of  the  slavery  question"  and  to  the  effect 
on  the  public  of  the  churches*  treatment  of  such 
men  as  Thomas  Morris,  who  was  denied  burial 
by  the  Methodist  Church,  and  of  such  others  as 
Whittier,  Emerson,  Garrison,  Phillips,  John 
Brown,  Sumner,  and  Lincoln,  who  were  all  of 


32  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

them  outside,  and  some  of  them  under  the  ban, 
of  the  orthodox  churches/ 

And  so  to-day  the  churches'  failure  ade- 
quately to  combat  present  striking  evils  is  a  bad 
influence.  "The  slum  is  an  outstanding  indict- 
ment against  the  seriousness  and  sincerity  of 
the  churches'  message  to  the  age."''  "Effi- 
ciency in  religious  leadership,"  says  Mr.  Allen,' 
"means  that  the  working  and  living  conditions 
be  made  fit  to  work  in  and  live  in."  Judged  by 
this  test,  the  churches  have  failed,  so  far  as  the 
lower  classes  of  the  poor  can  see.  They  find  that 
the  churches  have  apparently  left  the  betterment 
of  their  conditions  to  agnostics  and  atheists; 
and  they  conclude  that  the  churches  are  more 
interested  in  talking  about  the  rewards  of  the 
hereafter  than  in  the  removal  of  the  evils  they 
suffer  in  this  life.  The  vast  amount  of  philan- 
thropy and  work  for  social  amelioration  which 
is  carried  on  under  distinctively  Christian  aus- 
pices is  quite  unknown  to  the  people  at  large. 
For  some  reason  there  has  been,  of  late  years, 
an  apparent  aversion  to  connecting  philan- 
thropy with  the  religious  motive.  Even  in  the 
case  of  the  institutional  church  the  distinctively 

'  Crapsey,  /.  c,  264. 
'  Cochran,  /.  c,  446. 

'  W.  H.  Allen,  "Efficiency  in  Religious  Work,"  Ann.  Am.  Ac, 
Nov.,  1907,  113. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  33 

religious  element  is  often  subordinated;  and 
where  it  is  insisted  upon  the  results  are  rather 
unfortunate,  as  we  shall  see  later.  So  this  alle- 
gation, although  in  the  main  untrue,  stands  un- 
corrected in  the  public  mind.  The  element 
of  truth  in  it  is  this:  that  the  churches,  no 
matter  how  deeply  they  may  be  interested 
in  charity,  even  on  a  large  scale,  have  not  as 
a  rule  attacked  the  causes  of  poverty,  and  have  v 
in  fact  expressly  said  that  such  is  not  their 
business. 

This  leads  to  another  consideration  which 
looms  very  large  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of 
to-day:  the  attitude  of  the  churches  and  their 
ministers  toward  the  "social  question,"  the 
problem  of  the  right  relations  of  labor  and 
capital,  and  of  the  just  distribution  of  this 
world's  goods.  This  problem  is  obviously 
partly  economic  and  partly  ethical,  and  on  ^ 
both  counts  the  position  of  organized  religion 
is  impugned.  Ignorance  of  the  question,  in-  y 
difference  to  it,  and  active  opposition  to  the 
ameliorative  efforts  of  labor  are  all  charged 
and  believed. 

To  the  charge  of  ignorance  of  the  economics  ^ 
of  the    question    most    ministers    must    plead 
guilty.     Veblen  has  noticed  that  "what  falls 
within  the  range  of  economics  falls  below  the 


34  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

proper  level  of  solicitude  of  the  priesthood  in  its 
best  estate."*  Most  ecclesiastics,  even  when 
dealing  directly  with  the  subject,  are  content  to 
admit,  as  does  Fairbairn,*  "the  author  is  not 
a  student  of  economics;  in  this  region  he  feels 
rather  than  sees."  But  economics  is  not  a  sub- 
ject in  which  the  emotions  may  be  relied  upon 
exclusively;  and  Fairbairn's  book,  in  its  eco- 
nomic aspects,  is  a  fair  sample  of  what  the  re- 
sults might  be  expected  to  be.'  The  ignorance 
'^  of  ministers  about  penology  and  prison  reform, 
about  the  conditions  of  sweat-shop,  mine  and 
factory  labor,  about  methods  of  social  reform, 
and  even  about  the  liquor  problem,  has  often 
been  noted. 

Even  in  the  realm  of  feeling  the  ministers 
have  usually  failed  "  to  grasp  the  tragedy  of  the 
struggle  now  going  on."  Their  training  and 
associations  make  it  almost  impossible  for  them 
to  get  at  the  real  opinions  and  feelings  of  the 
workingmen.  It  is  alleged,  with  considerable 
truth,  that  the  churches  entirely  misunderstand 
the  nature  of  the  struggle  in  which  the  intelligent 
workingmen    and    their   leaders   are   engaged. 

*  Veblen, /.  c,  311. 

'  Andrew  M.  Fairbaim,  /.  c,  vi;  cf.  Crooker,  /.  c,  98. 

*See  especially  Lect.  VII.  Cf.  also  Campbell,  "Christianity 
and  the  Social  Order,"  for  a  treatment  of  economic  questions  so 
naively  crude  as  often  to  raise  a  smile. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  35 

Thus  one  recent  writer  *  seems  to  think  that  the 
demand  of  the  workingmen  that  the  pulpit  jus- 
tify itself  "from  an  economic  point  of  view'* 
means  that  the  ministers  should  "raise  the  best 
potatoes,"  or  should  "add  a  pie-counter  to  the 
sanctuary."  It  should  not  be  overlooked,  how- 
ever, that  this  deplorable  condition  is  as  much 
due  to  the  reticence  and  secretiveness  of  the 
working  people,  and  even  the  impatience  of  their 
leaders,  when  talking  to  their  pastors,  as  to  the 
indifference  and  ignorance  of  the  clergy,  who 
often  do  not  know  how  to  find  out  the  facts,  even 
when  they  are  really  interested. 

There  is,  however,  no  possible  excuse  for  that 
antiquated  "the-poor-ye-have-always-with-you  " 
theory,  according  to  which  poverty  is  but  one  of 
the  inscrutable  and  inexorable  decrees  of  Provi- 
dence, with  which  it  would  be  presumptuous, 
or  even  blasphemous,  for  man  to  interfere.  Still 
less  is  there  any  justification,  in  this  day  of  gen- 
eral social  aspiration,  for  such  pious  cant  as  this 
(quoted  from  a  denominational  journal) :  "  It  is 
a  comforting  thought  that,  if  God  has  seen  fit  to 
keep  a  majority  of  His  children  from  privileges 
which  we  think  essential  to  happiness.  He  has 
made  them  capable  of  being  happy  with  the 
fewer  and  simpler  things  which  he  has  allowed 

'  Crocker,  I.  c,  63,  124. 


^ 


X 


36  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

them."  The  logical  application  of  this  idea, 
reversing  the  whole  trend  of  progress,  would 
relegate  humanity  back  to  the  earliest  stages  of 
savagery,  or  better  still,  to  the  condition  of 
clams,  whose  wants  are  practically  nil  and  who 
are,  therefore,  happy  in  their  easy  gratification 
(or  at  least  silent  under  their  disappointment). 
How  much  nobler  are  the  stirring  words  of  the 
"layman,"  Henry  George:*  "Though  it  may 
take  the  language  of  prayer,  it  is  blasphemy  that 
attributes  to  the  inscrutable  decrees  of  Provi- 
dence the  suffering  and  brutishness  that  come  of 
poverty;  that  turns  with  folded  hands  to  the 
All-Father  and  lays  on  Him  the  responsibility  for 
the  want  and  crime  of  our  great  cities.  We  de- 
grade the  Everlasting.  We  slander  the  Just  One. 
A  merciful  man  would  have  better  ordered  the 
world;  a  just  man  would  crush  with  his  foot  such 
an  ulcerous  ant-hill!  It  is  not  the  Almighty 
but  we  who  are  responsible  for  the  vice  and 
misery  that  fester  amid  our  civilization.  The 
Creator  showers  upon  us  His  gifts — more  than 
enough  for  all.  But  like  swine  scrambling  for 
food,  we  tread  them  in  the  mire — tread  them  in 
the  mire,  while  we  tear  and  rend  each  other!" 

The   charge     that   the   indifference   of    the 
churches  is  responsible  for  their  failure  to  pro- 

>  Henry  George,  "Progress  and  Poverty"  (1905  ed.),  S46. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  37 

tect  the  rights  of  the  masses  against  encroach- 
ment, and  for  their  comparative  neglect  of  the 
doctrine  of  human  brotherhood  with  all  its  im- 
plications, is  very  common,  and  is  very  difficult 
to  answer.  "Well,  sir,"  said  one  man,*  "I  sup- 
pose the  church  does  not  care  anything  about 
us  poor  people,  and  so  we  come  not  to  care 
much  for  her  either — ^the  more's  the  pity!"  To 
cite  Christian  Socialism  as  the  answer  to  this  is 
not  sufficient,  especially  in  view  of  the  compar- 
ative insignificance  and  failure  of  that  move- 
ment.^ On  the  other  side  stand  the  records. 
"I  do  not  see,"  said  Phillips  Brooks,  "how  it 
will  do  any  good  to  treat  the  workingmen  as 
a  separate  class  in  this  matter  (religion)  in  which 
their  needs  and  duties  are  just  like  other  men's." 
The  difficulty  lies  just  in  the  fact  that  their 
needs  and  duties  are  «o/  just  like  other  men's. 
Says  the  Congregationalist:  "There  is  too  much 
talk  about  the  church's  relation  to  the  labor 
problem,  as  though  Christianity  had  a  peculiar 
mission  to  those  who  labor  without  having  their 
money  employed  in  the  work  they  are  doing." 
That,  however,  is  precisely  the  difference  in- 
volved: the  difference  between  the  employment 
of  money  and  the  employment  of  life.    The  la- 

'  Cited  in  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  146. 
■  See  below,  p.  102. 


38  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

borer  invests  all  that  he  has — his  strength,  his 
health,  and  his  life — in  his  business;  and  when 
they  give  out  he  cannot  clear  his  records  and 
begin  anew  (at  least  not  on  this  earth)  merely 
by  filing  a  petition  in  bankruptcy.  As  a  promi- 
nent manufacturer  said:*  "A  man  may  sell 
V  cotton  at  a  loss  and  say,  *  Never  mind;  to-mor- 
row market  conditions  may  change,  and  my 
loss  may  return  to  me  as  a  profit.'  He  may  sell 
coal  at  a  loss  and  look  confidently  to  the  future 
to  reimburse  him — these  things  are  mere  ma- 
terial possessions;  but  when  he  sells  his  labor, 
that  is  quite  another  thing;  for  his  labor  is  his 
own  life.  That  is  what  manufacturers  buy  and 
the  multitude  of  workingmen  sell — parts  of  the 
lives  of  men." 

"The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  said  re- 
cently that  he  worked  seventeen  hours  a  day 
and  had  no  time  left  to  form  an  opinion  as  to 
the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  unemployed. 
To  which  Mr.  Keir  Hardie  replied  that  *  a  relig-  f  / 
ion  which  demands  seventeen  hours  a  day  for  or-  / 
ganization,  and  leaves  no  time  for  a  single  thought 
about  starving  and  despairing  men  and  women 
and  children,  has  no  message  for  this  age.'"  ^ 

*  J.  T.  Lincoln,  "A  Manufacturer's  Point  of  View,"  Atlantic 
Mo.,  Vol.  XCVIII,  p.  288. 

*  Cochran,  /.  c,  446. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  39 

Still  more  damning  in  the  eyes  of  the  people 
is  the  alleged  active  opposition  of  the  churches 
to  all  reforms.  In  England  there  is  never-end- 
ing opposition  to  political,  educational,  and 
social  reforms,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Reform  Bill 
of  1832,  the  social  reforms  of  Lord  Shaftesbury, 
and  the  present  Education  Bill.  Even  Mr.  As- 
quith's  temperance  legislation  is  opposed  by 
the  1,280  clergymen  who  have  savings  invested 
in  breweries.  In  Germany  there  is  still  a  strong 
popular  antipathy  to  Luther  on  account  of  the 
part  he  played  in  the  Peasants'  War,  which  was 
decidedly  reactionary  and  undemocratic.  In 
America  the  churches  have  never  taken  the 
same  active  part  in  politics  as  in  England  and 
Germany.  But  in  the  United  States  it  is  gen- 
erally felt  that  **  in  the  present  democratic  revo-  \ 
lution  the  churches  are  not  for  the  most  part  1 
with  the  rising  people,  but  are  either  indifferent  i 
or  are  with  the  dominant  class.  The  clergy 
represent  privilege."  ^  President  Gompers,  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  says  that  the 
clergy  are  opposed  to  the  unions.  Organized 
labor  in  general  feels  that  there  is  an  alliance 
between  "the  rich  oppressor"  and  the  church. 
"The  parsons  have  taken  sides  with  the  rich."  ^  ^ 

*  Crapsey,  /.  c,  283. 
*Gohre, /.  c,  175. 


40  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

The  Church  and  the  State  are  said  to  be  institu- 
tions designed  for  stultifying  the  people.     Says 

/  a  workingman :  *    "The  church  has,  as  an  or- 

ganized body,  no  sympathy  for  the  masses. 
It  is  a  sort  of  fashionable  club  where  the  rich  are 
entertained  and  amused,  and  where  most  of  the 
ministers  are  muzzled  by  their  masters  and  dare 
not  preach  the  gospel  of  the  carpenter  of  Naza- 
reth." A  man  whose  whole  life  was  ruled  by 
religion,  and  who  was  at  least  not  unfriendly  to 

y  the  churches,  writes:^  "He  who  by  fraud  and 
injustice  gets  him  a  million  dollars  will  have 
.  .  .  the  best  pew  in  the  church  and  the  personal 
regard  of  the  eloquent  clergyman  who,  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  preaches  the  gospel  of  Dives, 
and  tones  down  into  a  meaningless  flower  of 
Eastern  speech  the  stern  metaphor  of  the  camel 
and  the  needle's  eye."  Such  opinions,  freely 
expressed,  are  indicative  of  the  feeling  of  large 
masses  of  people;  and  although  their  inequity 
and  fallaciousness  are  patent  to  those  who  know 
the  facts,  there  is  again  sufficient  truth  in  them 
to  call  for  notice. 

In  view  of  this  feeling,  one  can  understand 
how  church-going,  in  some  centres  of  developed 

{         class  consciousness,  as  in  Germany,  may  come 

*  Perry,  /.  c,  626. 

*  George,  /.  c,  458. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  41 

to  be  looked  upon  as  disloyalty  to  class;  and 
why  the  religious  workingmen  must  be  secret  in 
their  allegiance  to  the  church,  as  though  it  were 
something  to  be  ashamed  of. 

3.   General  Criticisms 

The  charges  we  have  been  considering  so  far 
are  radical  in  their  nature,  and  go  to  explain 
specifically  the  opposition  and  hostility  of  the 
working  classes  to  the  churches.  We  pass  now 
to  a  class  of  criticisms  the  force  of  which  is  felt 
by  many  inside  the  churches  as  well  as  out,  and 
which,  taken  alone,  could  not  account  for  the 
alienation  of  the  masses,  but  which  add  cumu- 
lative force  to  their  more  fundamental  objec- 
tions. 

The  archaism  of  the  forms  and  services  of 
many  churches  is  distasteful.  The  services  are 
said  to  be  stale  and  uninteresting.  The  average 
man's  great  aversion  to  kneeHng  down  has  often 
been  noticed.  But  worse  than  this  is  the  obso- 
lete supernaturalism,  express  or  implicit,  in  so 
much  preaching.  Says  Mr.  Crapsey:*  "The 
great  churches  base  all  their  teaching  upon  the 
miracle.  They  claim  their  religion  is  the  one 
exception  in  the  religious  history  of  the  world." 
But  "economic  causes  work  toward  a  secular- 

•  Crapsey,  /.  c,  287;  cf.  Campbell,  /.  c,  12. 


42  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

ization  of  men*s  habits  of  thought."  *  The 
modern  farmer  is  brought  up  on  scientific  meth- 
ods, and  the  machine  operative  is  a  daily  wit- 
ness of  the  reign  of  law.  In  the  school,  the  fam- 
ily, the  lodge  and  the  trades  union,  archaism 
and  superstition  of  every  sort  have  vanished. 
Yet  the  churches,  especially  the  old  school, 
which  still  numbers  the  vast  majority  among  its 
adherents,  stubbornly  refuse  to  rid  themselves 
of  the  archaic  and  superstitious  elements  which 
they  fondly  call  their  "priceless  heritage  from 
the  glorious  past,"  "an  essential  link  in  the 
chain  of  historic  continuity,"  etc.  The  ordinary 
"dignified"  and  "reverent"  church  service, 
with  its  outworn  implications  and  its  unintelli- 
gible symbolism,  is  not  only  insufferably  dull  to 
the  average  workingman,  but  is  further  posi- 
tively repugnant  to  the  daily  habits  of  his  mind, 
steeped  as  the  latter  is  in  modernity,  rationality, 
and  directness.  The  same  considerations  apply, 
with  redoubled  force,  to  a  well-known  variety 
of  preaching,  which  insists  on  miracles,  special 
creation,  "plenary  inspiration,"  incomprehen- 
sible and  unethical  schemes  of  salvation,  etc. — 
the  delight  of  the  revivalist,  but  uninteresting 
to  those  who  do  not  care  to  think  about  them, 
and  repugnant  to  those  who  do.     Men  cannot 

'  Veblen,  /.  c,  321. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  43 

live  in  an  atmosphere  of  evolution  and  personal 
responsibility  six  days  out  of  the  week,  and 
then  on  the  seventh  flourish  in  a  miasma  of 
special  creation  and  vicarious  atonement  of  the 
Pauline  variety.  Among  intelligent  working 
people  the  orthodox  church-goer  is  looked  upon 
by  his  friends  outside  as  either  weak-minded  or 
hypocritical. 

There  is  about  some  churches  a  certain 
aroma  of  weakness  and  failure  which  is  strongly 
distasteful  to  the  mind  of  the  virile  workman, 
the  successful  artisan  or  farmer.  There  is  fre- 
quently heard  in  them  an  appeal  to  the  "femi- 
nine" rather  than  the  "masculine"  conscience;  * 
a  concentration  on  the  mote  when  the  beam 
needs  attention.  The  churches  do  not  often 
provide  a  kind  of  work  in  which  men  can  en- 
gage. Their  decline  is  obvious  to  every  one; 
and  this  decline  is  cumulative,  for  their  failure 
breeds  a  suspicion  that  they  are  not  needed. 
The  growth  and  apparently  triumphant  prog- 
ress of  materialism,  at  the  same  time  with  the 
decay  of  the  Protestant  churches,  carries  its 
clear  lesson  to  the  masses.  They  are  also 
struck  with  the  diflTerence  between  the  churches 
falling  into  disrepair  and  the  gaudy  theatres  and 
massive  business  buildings  going  up  all  about 

*  Ross,  /.  c,  96. 


44  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

them.    And  when  it  is  pointed  out  to  them  that 
worldly  success  and   prosperity    are    not    the 
churches'  "sphere,"  that    they   are  interested 
primarily  in  the   saving  of  souls,  the   masses 
point  to  the  increasing  disaffection,  to  the  fail- 
ure of  the  churches  as  evangelizing  agencies — 
I  it  is  notorious  that  church  agencies  do  not  keep 
j  pace  with  the  growth  of  population;    and  still 
more  searchingly  to  their  failure  to  make  good 
j  people  of  their  own  members.     The  quarrels 
i  and   mutual   recriminations  of  the  denomina- 
!  tions,  and  the  rivalry,  competition,  and  other 
\  evils  of  division  do  not  help  the  case  with  the 
people.     They  find  failure  even  in  the  efforts  of 
the  churches  to  alleviate  the  distresses  of  the 
poor.    The  attempted  combination  of  ecclesias- 
tical religion  with  scientific  relief  detracts  from 
the  success  of  the  churches  in  both  fields;  when 
relief  is  resorted  to  as  a  form  of  bribery  the 
case  is  worse;   and  when  competition  between 
churches  in  the  same  mission  field  is  begun,  and 
the  "  atrocious  system  of  dole  against  dole,  treat 
against  treat"  ^   is  installed,   the  ruin  of  the 
churches  in  the  eyes  of  self-respecting  people  is 
complete. 

And  last  but  not  by  any  means  least  in  this 
line  of  criticism  comes  the  matter  of  the  person- 

'  Booth,  /.  c,  ii,  95  and  passim. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  45 

ality  and  ability  of  ministers.  There  has  been 
no  lack  of  personal  sympathy  and  desire  to  do 
good,  "consecration,"  among  them;  and  that 
has  been  pretty  generally  recognized.  But 
"consecration"  is  not  enough,  as  experience  has 
frequently  and  conclusively  shown.  For  good  i 
or  ill,  the  prosperity  of  the  churches  depends 
largely  upon  the  personality  of  their  minis- 
ters. What  do  we  find  ?  Says  Kaufmann :  * 
"Through  general  observation,  especially  among 
the  country  clergy,  we  should  be  inclined  to  say, 
admitting  many  exceptions,  that  the  manner  y 
and  method  in  dealing  with  the  working  classes 
on  the  part  of  the  clergymen  is  very  often  either 
that  of  overbearing  dictatorial  pomposity,  or 
that  of  softly-soothing  mildness  and  good- 
natured  imbecility."  This  estimate  of  the  Eng- 
lish clergy  may  be  adapted  to  America  by  sub- 
stituting for  "dictatorial  pomposity"  (which 
American  conditions  do  not  favor),  simple  "in- 
difference." In  the  cities  also  there  is  abundant 
inefficiency.  Low-priced  men  are  put  into  the 
down-town  districts  to  solve  the  hardest  prob- 
lems— ^with  failure  as  the  usual  result.  Country 
ministers  are  put  into  city  churches,  with  simi- 
lar outcome.  The  dulness  of  the  average  ser- 
mon may  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the  lack  of 

'  Kaufmann,  I.  c,  224. 


46  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

inspiration  in  empty  benches;  but  the  empty 
benches  may  also  sometimes  be  explained  by 
the  lack  of  inspiration  in  the  sermon.* 

4.  Inherent  in  Modern  Conditions 

It  was  suggested  that  there  are  some  reasons 
for  the  decline  of  the  churches  inherent  in  mod- 
ern conditions,  which  cannot  properly  be 
charged,  as  remediable  "faults,"  to  either  the 
churches  or  the  people.    To  these  we  now  turn. 

The  first  of  these,  and  one  of  considerable 
importance,  is  the  great  mobility  of  the  people 
of  to-day.  With  the  improvement  of  the  ma- 
terial condition  comes  the  desire  for  a  better 
neighborhood  to  live  in;  and  with  the  move- 
ment from  one  neighborhood  to  another  there 
goes  a  change  in  the  personnel  and  status  of  the 
churches,  the  "better  classes'*  leaving  the 
churches  to — ^the  non-church-goers.  This  move- 
ment has  made  enormous  differences  to  the 
Protestant  churches  of  London  and  New  York. 
"Within  recent  years,"  says  Mr.  Stelzle,* 
"forty  Protestant  churches  moved  out  of  the 
district  below  Twentieth  Street  in  New  York 
City  while  300,000  people  moved  in."    In  East 

*  For  a  sympathetic  but  unconsciously  amusing  discussion  of 
sermons,  see  paper  on  that  subject  by  A,  C.  Benson,  in  National 
Rev.,  Vol.  XLVIII,  p.  492. 

'  Stelzle,  /.  c,  17. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  47 

London  the  increase  of  the  Jewish  population 
has  superseded  the  churches  with  synagogues. 
The  enormous  growth  of  the  cities  which  has 
characterized  the  nineteenth  century  has  far 
outstripped  the  supply  of  churches.  And  within 
the  cities  those  sections  which  need  the  most 
churches  usually  have  the  fewest.  "We  plant 
our  churches  as  a  rule  not  where  the  largest 
number  of  people  live,  but  where  the  church  ^ 
will  receive  the  largest  financial  support." 

In  the  meantime  this  removal  of  the  most  en- 
ergetic elements  from  the  country  to  the  cities 
has  correspondingly  weakened  the  country 
churches.  The  country  and  the  small  towns  are 
drained  of  their  best  native  blood,  and  the 
places  of  those  who  are  gone  are  being  taken  (if 
at  all)  by  foreigners,  who  are  neither  wanted  in 
the  old  churches  nor  would  be  likely  to  enter 
them  if  they  were.  , 

In  addition  to  the  movement  of  masses  must 
be  considered  the  habit  of  movement  which  in- 
dividuals have  acquired  to  such  a  large  extent  , 
from  the  growing  custom  of  boarding.  Board- 
ers and  renters  rarely  stay  in  one  place  long  | 
enough  to  form  permanent  church  attach- 
ments, and  soon  lose  any  they  may  have  started 
with. 

Also  in  this  connection  must  be  noticed  the 


48  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

effect  of  improved  transportation  facilities,  which 
make  it  easier  for  the  farmer  and  truck-gardener 
and  dairyman  to  live  far  out  in  the  country, 
where  there  are  no  churches,  and  where  the  dif- 
ficulties of  getting  into  town  on  Sundays  are 
usually  considered  insurmountable.  Going  fish- 
ing or  berrying  is  different,  for  one  doesn't  have 
to  "get  ready"  for  that. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  general  reason 
for  the  prevalence  and  increase  of  non-attend- 
ance is  simply  that  the  majority  of  people  have 
already  been  trained — sometimes  overtrained — 
in  Christian  principles,  through  the  public 
schools  and  the  Sunday-schools  and  the  daily 
and  periodical  press  and  our  thoroughly  Chris- 
tianized literature.  In  America  and  Europe  the 
atmosphere  is  saturated  with  Christianity;  the 
masses  of  the  people  could  not  get  away  from  it 
if  they  wanted  to.  And  although  there  is  much 
left  to  be  improved,  their  general  average  of  re- 
ligious and  ethical  training  is  already  high;  and 
they  ask,  quite  naturally  (on  the  current  basis 
of  always  getting  and  never  giving),  why  they 
should  continue  to  go  to  church.  They  send 
their  children  to  Sunday-school,  and  value 
highly  its  training  for  them;  but  for  themselves 
they  do  not  feel  the  need  of  further  formal  in- 
struction.   And  as  for  the  "instinct  of  worship'* 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  49 

— whatever  it  Is,  the  masses  of  the  people  have 
it  not. 

Josiah  Strong  has  observed  that  Sunday- 
school  children  rarely  become  church-goers, 
and  he  believes  it  to  be  the  "fault"  of  the  Sun- 
day-schools. It  is  not,  however,  due  to  any  de- 
fect in  the  Sunday-schools;  for  it  is  their  very  1 
efficacy  which  has  made  church-going,  in  the  1 
eyes  of  many,  superfluous.  Unfortunately,  there 
is  no  feeling  of  poignant  spiritual  need  for  either 
moral  exhortation  or  worship  on  the  part  of  the 
average  workingman.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult 
to  persuade  him,  honest  and  charitable  and  con- 
scientious as  he  usually  is,  that  he  is  really  suf- 
fering for  want  of  the  constant  ministrations  of 
the  church.  The  very  success  of  the  churches 
in  Christianizing  civilization  is  the  chief  obsta- 
cle in  their  way  to-day.  They  have  done  their 
work  so  well  that  to  the  average  superficial 
observer  it  would  appear  that  they  are  no 
longer  needed. 


CHAPTER   III 

CONCLUSIONS  AND  QUERIES 

■|\>TR.  MOODY  once  said:  "The  gulf  between 
■*■  the  churches  and  the  masses  is  growing 
deeper,  wider,  and  darker  every  hour."  Mr. 
Charles  Booth  was  so  thoroughly  impressed 
with  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the  whole  situa- 
tion that  he  wrote:*  "Failure  of  all  efforts 
almost  drives  one  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
must  be  something  actually  repellant  to  the 
people  in  the  pretensions  of  religion  or  in  the 
associations  of  Christian  worship."  This  is  the 
hopelessly  pessimistic  conclusion  from  the  facts. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  often  said  that  non- 
church-goers  are  not  necessarily  irreligious;  the 
claim  is  even  urged  that  "the  workingman  is 
naturally  religious."  ^  He  is  said  to  be  alien- 
ated not  from  religion  or  from  Christianity,  but 
from  its  professors  and  from  the  churches.  The 
religion  of  the  churches,  it  is  alleged,  is  not  the 
religion  of  Jesus.    "  It  will  be  the  religion  of  Je- 

•  Booth,  /.  c,  ii,  79;  cf.  Perry,  /.  c,  627. 
'  Stelzle,  I.  c,  40. 

SO 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  51 

sus,"  says  Mr.  Crapsey,*  "  and  not  that  of  the 
churches  that  will  regenerate  the  world.  The 
clerical  order  is  losing  influence  not  because  the 
world  is  growing  less  religious,  but  because  it  is 
more  religious  than  it  was  sixty  years  ago.  Re- 
ligion is  not  dying  out  but  changing  the  mode  of 
operation  from  the  churches  to  the  street,  the 
shop,  the  market,  the  common  council  cham- 
ber." This  is  the  optimistic  reaction  to  the  same 
facts. 

Dr.  Mathews  pessimistically  admits  that  there 
are  some  individuals  not  hostile  to  religion; ' 
at  the  other  extreme  the  evangelist  Mr.  Stelzle 
says  that  the  workingmen  are  responding  to  the 
church's  appeal;  that  "the  workingmen  honor 
Jesus  Christ"  '  in  the  narrow  theological  sense 
which  that  phrase  has  for  him.  On  this  subject 
there  is  an  opinion  which  is  worthy  of  consider- 
ation: "The  Jesus  who  is  applauded  by  the 
average  workingman  is  a  minimized  Jesus  X 
Christ,  a  fictitious  person,  not  the  Christ  of  the 
Gospels."  * 

But  more  important  than  this  conflict  of  opin- 
ions is  the  fundamental  question:  Has  religion, 
has  Christianity,  a  real  message  to  the  working- 

*  Shailer  Crapsey,  /.  c,  140,  281. 
'  Shailer  Mathews,  /.  c,  140. 

'  Stelzle,  /.  c,  39. 

*  Perry,  /.  c,  629. 


52  THE  CHURCHES 

men  of  to-day  ?  Is  there  that  in  the  working- 
men  which  will  respond  to  such  a  message  when 
properly  presented  ?  Will  or  can  the  churches 
present  it  to  them  in  such  a  way  that  they  will 
respond  to  it  ?  These  questions  will  be  consid- 
ered in  the  final  chapters  of  this  book. 


PART  II 

THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCHES 

TOWARD  THE  WORKINGMEN, 

AND  ITS  RESULTS 


PREAMBLE 

Part  I  of  this  study,  which  had  to  do  with  the 
extent  and  the  causes  of  the  alienation  of  the 
workingmen  from  the  churches,  had  necessarily 
to  consider  the  many  and  various  charges 
against  the  churches  urged  by  wage  earners  and 
their  sympathizers  in  justification  of  their  with- 
drawal. The  more  fundamental  criticisms  there 
urged  were  these:  i,  that  the  churches  fail  to 
insist  on  spiritual  and  social  equality;  2,  that 
in  their  anxiety  for  the  future  welfare  of  the 
workingmen  they  are  oblivious  of  their  more 
immediate  and  pressing  needs;  and  3,  that  in 
regard  to  the  "  social  question,"  the  churches  are 
either  ignorant  of  it,  or  are  indifferent  or  hostile 
to  the  wage  earners'  movement  toward  social 
amelioration. 

In  this  Part  we  will  consider  the  churches* 
answer,  in  theory  and  in  practice,  to  these  ob- 
jections. In  reference  to  each  of  these  points  we 
will  consider:  i,  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  which 
Christian  churches  may  be  assumed  to  accept  as 
authoritative,  so  far  as  it  can  be  ascertained; 
2,  the  present  theory  of  the  churches,  supple- 

55 


56  THE  CHURCHES 

meriting  or  modifying  the  teaching  of  Jesus; 
3,  a  review  (which  may,  for  our  purposes,  be 
merely  a  very  brief  indication)  of  the  activities 
of  the  churches,  in  pursuance  or  in  contradiction 
of  their  theories;  and  4,  a  criticism  of  their 
practice  with  reference  to  (a)  its  efficiency,  and 
(b)  its  effect,  favorable  or  unfavorable,  on  the 
attitude  of  the  workers,  which  is  of  primary  im- 
portance to  the  question  in  hand. 


CHAPTER  I 

EQUALITY 

I.  Spiritual  • 

**  I  ^HE  conviction  of  Jesus  that  in  the  sight  of 
the  Father  every  man's  soul  is  as  precious 
as  any  man's  soul,  and  that  every  one  is  worthy 
of  salvation  as  a  son  of  God,  is  obvious  on  the 
face  of  the  Gospels.  The  dictum  of  Paul  that 
"in  Christ"  all  are  one,  which  has  been  inter- 
preted as  another  expression  of  this  spiritual 
equality,  has  been  accepted,  in  theory,  through- 
out the  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  is 
to-day  insisted  on  from  every  pulpit  and  in 
every  theological  work.  But  through  it  all  the 
careful  observer  will  see  that  the  theory  has 
been  given  a  peculiar  twist;  that,  in  fact,  it  is 
taken  to  mean  that  all  souls  are  equal  in  their 
need  of  salvationy  and  not  by  any  means  in  their 
actual  spiritual  value.  The  whole  missionary 
endeavor  of  the  church  is  based  on  the  assump- 
tion of  spiritual  inequality;  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  saved  and  the  unsaved,  the  redeemed 

57 


58  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

and  the  damned,  the  orthodox  and  the  heretical, 
the  Christian  and  the  heathen — in  short,  a  sep- 
aration of  the  people  into  classes,  the  "sheep" 
and  the  "goats."  Evangelistic  campaigns,  the 
incessant  appeals  to  "join  the  church,"  etc., 
necessarily  insist  on  a  difference  between  those 
out  and  those  in;  and  this  distinction  is  accent- 
uated by  the  various  forms  and  conditions  of 
admission  to  the  churches.  Periods  of  proba- 
tion, rites  and  ceremonies  in  the  nature  of  an 
initiation,  all  emphasize  the  difference  between 
the  church  member  and  the  non-church  mem- 
ber. 

This  distinction  is  inevitable  if  the  churches 
are  to  fulfil  their  mission  as  saviors  of  men.  If 
the  man  out  is  as  good  as  the  man  in,  organized 
proselyting  enthusiasm  is  at  once  paralyzed. 
But  it  is  a  distinction  nevertheless,  and  is  un- 
questionably felt  as  an  invidious  one.  The 
appeal  of  the  churchman  to  the  outsider  is  an 
appeal  to  the  latter  to  raise  himself  to  the  spir- 
itual plane  of  the  former.  "Spiritual  pride"  is 
a  universal  sin,  and  is  easily  recognized,  even 
though  it  take  the  form  of  excessive  humility. 
On  matters  of  equality  the  workingman  of  to- 
day is  sensitive.  He  will  not  be  patronized. 
He  resents  any  one's  assuming  a  superiority, 
even  the  superiority  which  is  necessary  to  help- 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  59 

fulness.  And  he  resents  it  all  the  more  when 
this  assumed  preeminence  is  exhibited  by  those 
who  are  no  whit  better  in  their  lives,  whose  con- 
sciences are  not  in  the  least  more  tender,  than 
those  they  are  seeking  to  convert.  It  is  not  al- 
ways clear  to  the  workingman  that  the  church- 
man's plane  is  really  higher  than  his  own. 

Even  the  right  of  the  preacher  to  speak  with 
authority  is  vigorously  contested  by  the  un- 
churched. A  lady  whose  father  was  a  Ger- 
man atheist,  and  who  is  now  herself  the  editor 
of  a  prominent  German  periodical  published 
in  America,  once  said:  "Why  should  I  go  to 
church,  or  help  support  one  ?  I  have  never  yet 
heard  from  a  minister  anything  which  could  be  of 
more  value  to  me  than  my  own  father's  training, 
or  which  gave  evidence  that  the  ministers'  claim 
of  authority  was  well  founded."  The  clergy  no 
longer  have  the  monopoly  of  learning,  of  phi- 
losophy and  of  ethics,  or  of  experience,  or  even 
of  religious  feeling,  which  formerly  gave  them 
authority. 

2.  Social 

That  Jesus  was  a  democrat  and  held  a  doc- 
trine of  social  equality  has  been  frequently  as-      p 
serted,   but  it  seems  to  me  without  sufficient 
warrant.    That  he  consorted  equally  freely  with 


6o  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

the  Pharisees  and  with  the  hadots  is  true;  but 
that  was  because  their  need  of  him  was  equally 
urgent.  That,  on  the  other  hand,  he  recognized 
social  distinctions  is  evident  from  the  episodes 
involving  the  Samaritans:  his  original  instruc- 
tions to  his  disciples,  on  their  missionary  tour,  to 
devote  their  attentions  to  the  Jews  exclusively, 
and  his  choice  of  the  despised  Samaritan  in  the 
parable  to  accentuate  the  selfishness  of  the  Le- 
vite.  It  cannot  be  shown  that  Jesus  was  in  any 
way  interested  in  political  equality  as  we  under- 
stand it,  or  that  even  the  conception  of  it  en- 
tered his  mind.  Paul  certainly  knew  nothing  of 
it;  his  recognition  of  slavery  and  his  numerous  in- 
junctions of  submission  to  the  constituted  author- 
ities of  his  day  are  anything  but  democratic. 

The  churches  of  history,  however,  have  rein- 
terpreted this  teaching  in  terms  of  the  polity 
current  in  their  own  times  and  countries.  In  an 
absolutist  society  the  churches  teach  the  divine 
right  of  kings;  in  a  democratic  government, 
democracy.  Luther  was  a  monarchist,  Calvin 
a  republican.  In  America,  in  the  aristocratic 
South  of  ante-bellum  days,  the  great  planters 
were  naturally  expected  to  occupy  the  best  seats 
in  the  churches;  in  democratic  New  England, 
Dr.  Gordon  says:  "Social  and  class  distinc- 
tions in  a  Congregational  church  are  intolera- 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  6i 

ble."  *  Professor  Ely,  an  American  Episcopalian, 
extends  this  dictum  to  all  churches;  and  the  Pres- 
byterians, from  Knox  to  Stelzle  have  always 
clamored  for  "more  democracy."  Methodism 
has  been  democratic  since  its  inception.  The 
churches,  they  say,  should  be  the  social  centres 
of  the  community,  in  which  all  grades  and 
classes  meet  on  an  equality.  Actual  distinc- 
tions of  classes  are  to  be  ignored  or  denied. 

Occasionally  writers  are  betrayed  into  slips 
like  these:  "The  church  must  not  forget  her 
mission  to  the  rich";^  "it  is  the  church's  duty 
to  reach  the  very  lowest  in  the  city'*;  ^  but  this 
is  an  entirely  unintentional  intrusion  of  fact  into 
the  theory.  Rarely  does  one  find  a  frank  state- 
ment of  the  underlying  truth,  such  as  this  of 
Mr.  Cochran's:*  "It  is  by  recognizing  classes 
that  the  church  can  fuse  humanity  into  a  great 
brotherhood."  It  is  only  by  recognizing  differ- 
ences of  endowment  and  of  culture  that  the 
churches  of  to-day  can  effectively  correlate 
themselves  with  the  facts,  and  contribute  to  the 
progress  of  a  genuine  equality. 

For  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  spirit  of 

» Cited  in  E.  L.  Heermance,  "Democracy  in  the  Church,"  151. 

*  Strong,  /.  c,  291.     (In  all    these  quotations  the  italics  are 
mine.) 

*  Stelzle,  I.  c,  107. 

*  Cochran,  /.  c,  446. 


62  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

equality  which  has  been  evidenced  in  the 
church  since  its  beginning,  vague,  indefinite, 
and  unacquainted  with  its  own  aim,  is  quite 
different  from  the  spirit  of  modern  political  de- 
mocracy. At  St.  Martin's,  near  Buckingham 
Palace,  "cabinet  minister  and  crossing-sweeper 
kneel  side  by  side,"  and  there  are  innumerable 
cases  of  free  admixture  of  classes  in  churches, 
Catholic  and  Protestant;  but  this  has  never  been 
meant  as  an  inculcation  of  the  doctrine  of  social 
equality,  nor  has  it  ever  been  taken  as  such. 

That  the  churches  do  actually  disregard  any 
assumption  of  social  equality  is  well  known  and 
often  admitted.  It  is  only  natural  that  associa- 
tions of  people  with  a  certain  standard  of  intel- 
lectual and  financial  attainment  should  gather 
together  other  people  of  the  same  class,  while 
other  congregations  with  other  standards  should 
also  have  their  particular  foUowings.  Preach- 
ing adapted  to  a  middle-class  congregation  is 
not  suitable,  in  form  or  in  content,  to  the  poor; 
the  two  classes  cannot  be  kept  permanently  to- 
gether, as  things  are,  under  the  same  minister. 
If  the  minister  attempts  to  meet  the  "lower" 
class  on  their  own  level,  he  is  disapproved  of  by 
the  social  censors  of  his  church,*  and  often  by 

*  For  an  amusing  case  where  the  deaconesses  disapproved,  see 
Booth,  /.  c,  ii,  75,  78. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  63 

his  clerical  brethren;  if  he  does  not,  they  leave 
the  church. 

The  moving  of  city  churches  "up-town** 
shows  unmistakably  that  they  are  class  churches. 
The  churches  are  occupied  by  the  well-to-do 
denizens  of  the  residence  sections,  and  missions 
are  started  down-town  for  the  poor.  And  then, 
instead  of  leaving  the  poor  to  run  their  missions, 
the  wealthy  contributors  who  support  them  step 
in  and  control  them,  and  the  churches'  actual 
disregard  of  democracy  becomes  once  more  fully 
apparent. 

No  matter  how  necessary,  on  grounds  of 
efficiency  and  expediency,  this  neglect  of  theo- 
retical democracy  may  be,  its  effect  upon  the 
people  is  bad.  For,  first,  there  is  the  too  obvious 
contrast  between  the  professions  and  the  prac- 
tices of  the  churches.  Second,  no  one  likes  to 
have  his  actual  social  subordination  impressed 
upon  him  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary;  it 
hurts,  and  it  breeds  a  hatred  of  the  conditions 
which  make  it  possible.  In  the  third  place,  the 
people  have  a  strong  and  growing  feeling  in 
favor  of  democracy  and  social  equality;  they 
insist  that  in  the  long  run  they  are  the  most  ex- 
pedient and  the  most  efficient;  they  have,  in 
fact,  made  a  religion  of  them.  And  finally,  the 
people  object  to  the  churches'  theory  of  equality 


64  THE  CHURCHES 

because  when  it  is  preached  at  all  it  is  preached 
as  a  fact  in  the  face  of  circumstances  which 
make  it  seem  ironical  and  cruel,  instead  of  as  an 
ideal  as  ytt  far  from  realization,  but  to  the  at- 
tainment of  which  all  energies  should  be  bent. 
In  short,  in  the  matter  of  social  as  of  spiritual 
equality,  the  churches  have  occupied  an  illogical 
and  indefensible  position,  asserting  it  to  exist 
where  it  does  not  exist,  and  recognizing  its  oppo- 
site at  times  when  and  in  places  where  equality 
should  be  insisted  upon. 


C.'. 


CHAPTER  II 

CHARITY 

AS  the  recognition  of  spiritual  inequality  was 
■^  ^  responsible  for  the  churches*  great  mis- 
sionary work,  and  the  admission  of  social  ine- 
quality suggests  their  present  opportunity,  so 
the  acknowledgment  of  another  inequality,  too 
patent  to  be  ignored — the  economic — is  at  the 
basis  of  their  other  great  work,  charity.  In  their 
philanthropic  activities,  the  distinction  between 
rich  and  poor  has  had  to  be  admitted;  and  at 
this  point  we  enter  upon  the  second  part  of  our 
subject:  The  churches'  answer  to  the  charge 
that  they  have  neglected  the  more  immediate 
wants  of  the  poorer  classes. 

I.   The  Old  Way 

Charity  is  so  bound  up  with  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  and  with  the  practice  of  the  churches 
through  all  ages  that  any  discussion  of  Christian 
theory  on  the  matter  would  be  superfluous. 
"  Charity  was  one  of  the  earliest,  as  it  was  one 
of  the  noblest,  creations  of  Christianity,"  writes 
Lecky.*    There  may  be  question  as  to  whether 

*  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  "Rationalism  in  Europe,"  II,  236. 
65 


66  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

Jesus  enjoined  charity  for  the  sake  of  the  giver, 
as  has  been  generally  assumed,  or  for  the  sake  of 
the  recipient,  or  for  both;  but  there  is  no  ques- 
tion of  the  Christian  obligatoriness  of  "caring 
for  the  poor."  Of  late  years,  in  view  of  the  evils 
of  indiscriminate  alms-giving,  to  which  we  shall 
soon  advert,  there  has  appeared  a  demand  that 
the  churches  apply  the  principles  of  "  scientific 
charity,"  or  even  that  they  withdraw  entirely 
from  the  province  of  material  relief  and  coop- 
erate with  the  charity  organizations  by  attend- 
ing to  spiritual  needs  while  the  latter  attend  to 
the  material.*  This  is  suggested  rather  as  a 
modification  of  their  practice  of  charity  than  as 
an  abandonment  of  it.^  There  is  certainly  no 
general  tendency  in  the  Christian  Church  at  the 
present  time  to  depart  from  its  custom  of  ma- 
terial help  to  the  needy,  which  has  never  been 
broken  since  the  beginning  of  the  church's  his- 
tory. In  the  Middle  Ages,  "so  far  as  cases  of 
individual  hardship  went,  the  church  strove  to 
defend  the  weak  and  to  diminish  the  suflFerings 

*  Edward  T.  Devine,  "Principles  of  Relief,"  323,  329;  George 
B.  Mangold,  "The  Church  and  Philanthropy,"  Ann.  Am.  Ac, 
Nov.,  1907,  p.  94. 

'  R.  J.  Campbell  (/.  c,  165)  says:  "Charity  is  worse  than  useless; 
systematically  practised  it  is  a  demoralizing  influence. "  So  far  as 
I  know,  this  expression  is  unique,  coming  from  a  clergyman.  Cf. 
on  the  merits  of  the  practice,  Lecky,  /.  c,  236. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  67 

of  the  poor";  *  and  no  one  questions  that  it 
does  the  same  to-day.  "Never  was  this  sense 
of  responsibility  for  the  poor  so  profoundly  felt 
by  t»he  Christian  church  as  at  the  present  time."  ^ 

But  the  efficiency  and  wisdom  of  the  churches' 
charity  work  are  being  very  seriously  ques- 
tioned. Philanthropic  activities  carried  on  in 
a  haphazard  way  are  not  always  beneficent. 
Perhaps  as  much  harm  as  good  has  been  done 
by  indiscriminate  giving.  The  thrifty  have  been 
taxed  to  support  the  lazy  in  vice  and  thriftless- 
ness,  perhaps  more  often  than  the  worthy  have 
been  put  in  the  way  of  their  own  economic  sal- 
vation. The  administration  of  charity  is  beset 
with  difficulties  which  the  churches  are  seldom 
in  position  to  overcome. 

Churches  in  America  and  in  England  have 
passed  through  some  disheartening  but  instruc- 
tive experiences  in  this  connection.'  Their 
effbrts  at  the  betterment  of  conditions  have 
sometimes,  in  their  ignorance  of  the  working  of 
economic  forces,  resulted  only  in  making  them 
worse.  Free  shelters  are  provided  in  London 
for  the  homeless;  as  a  result  tramps  are  at- 
tracted to  the  city  in  hordes,  swelling  the  great 

*  Alfred  Marshall,  "Principles  of  Economics"  (4th  ed.),  28. 

'  Peabody,  /.  c,  232. 

'  See  Devine,  /.  c,  325  Jf.;  Booth,  /.  c,  passim. 


68  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

"reserve  army"  of  unemployed  unskilled  labor 
and  reducing  wages  throughout  the  city. 
"  Church  charities  help  low  prices  of  goods  by 
subsidizing  underpaid  workers,"  *  thus  con- 
tributing directly  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
sweating  and  other  parasitic  industries.  In- 
sufficient wages  of  women  and  children,  and 
even  of  men,  are  made  up  by  help  from  the 
churches,  and  unscrupulous  "contractors"  and 
task-masters  get  the  benefit. 

The  churches  have  not  erred  on  the  side  of  too 
little  attention  to  the  immediate  material  needs 
of  the  poor;  they  have  given  not  wisely  but  too 
well.  Their  zeal  has  been  far  in  excess  of  their 
knowledge.  And  they  have  sometimes  shown  a 
lamentable  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  help  they 
could  get  from  cooperation  with  trained  charity 
workers.  They  seem  still  to  have  that  unwar- 
ranted suspicion  of  modern  methods  which  was 
voiced  by  Boyle  O'Reilly  in  those  famous  lines: 

"Organized  charity  scrimped  and  iced 
In  the  name  of  a  cautious,  statistical  Christ.'" 

'  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb,  "Industrial  Democracy,"  755,  twte. 
'  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  "In  Boheniia."  That  he  really  knew  bet- 
ter, cf.  this: 

"  Benevolence  befits  the  wisest  mind; 
But  he  who  has  not  studied  to  be  kind, 
Who  grants  for  asking,  gives  without  a  rule, 
Y    Hurts  whom  he  helps,  and  proves  himself  a  fool." 

— Wheat  Grains. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  69 

Even  the  Salvation  Army,  which  is  in  a  situation 
peculiarly  favorable  to  a  clear  view  of  the  work- 
ing of  individual  relief,  is  accused  of  inefficiency 
and  of  failure  to  cooperate  with  charity  organ- 
izations/ 

The  bad  influence  of  this  exhibition  of  ineffi- 
ciency on  the  people,  who  find  their  lodges  and 
unions,  "secular"  agencies,  superior  in  their 
handling  of  what  the  churches  used  to  claim  as 
their  specialty,  is  further  aggravated  by  the 
spectacle  of  relief  used  as  a  means  of  maintain- 
ing church  attendance  or  membership — a  spe- 
cies of  religious  bribery,  as  Booth  calls  it.  Free 
breakfasts  are  provided  on  Sunday  mornings  for 
men  who  are  expected  in  return  therefor  to 
attend  divine  service  immediately  afterward. 
There  is  a  medical  mission  in  London  where, 
while  the  patients  are  waiting  to  see  the  doctor, 
a  bright  gospel  service  is  held,  and  the  hearers 
are  directed  to  the  Great  Physician.  No  prayer, 
no  pills.  In  congested  districts,  where  the  com- 
petition between  churches  becomes  intense,  con- 
tests of  charity  are  sometimes  set  up,  each 
church  going  to  and  beyond  the  limits  of  its  re- 
sources with  inducements  such  as  free  meals 
and  lodging,  free  coal  and  blankets,  free  con- 

*  C.  C.  Carstens,  "The    Salvation    Army — A    Criticism,"    30 
Ann.  Am.  Ac,  553. 


70  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

certs  for  adults  and  free  toys  for  children.  A 
more  efficacious  breeder  of  scoffing  could  not 
well  be  devised. 

2.   The  Institutional  Church 

The  kind  of  relief  thus  far  considered  is  usu- 
ally administered  by  tender-hearted  individuals, 
or  by  committees  of  a  few  women,  with  an  occa- 
sional man  for  emergencies.  But  with  the  enor- 
mous growth  of  charitable  work  which  has  ac- 
companied the  growing  competition  of  the 
churches  with  each  other  and  with  the  forces  of 
alienation,  the  work  has  had  to  be  organized, 
institutionalized;  and  now  we  find  in  the  great 
cities  three  highly  developed  forms  of  church 
relief  organization:  the  institutional  church, 
the  mission,  and  the  religious  (and  secular) 
settlement. 

The  institutional  church  is  the  outgrowth  of 
the  movement  of  city  population  noted  above. 
When  the  old  members  move  away  from  the 
down-town  church,  and  hordes  of  strangers, 
usually  foreigners,  move  in,  the  church  finds 
that  its  old  methods  cease  to  attract,  and  it  must 
find  new  ones  or  close  its  doors.  It  becomes 
"  institutional.  *'  Its  theory  is  quite  simple. 
It  finds  that  it  must  direct  its  appeal  further 
than  to  the  "religious  instincts"  of  the  people 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  71 

with  whom  it  has  to  deal;  it  must  cater  to  their 
social  and  material  demands,  which  constitute 
so  much  larger  a  portion  of  their  lives.*  It  must 
show  the  community  that  it  is  interested  in  the 
whole  man.  It  must  meet  the  competition  of 
the  cheap  theatre,  the  pool-room,  and  the  saloon. 
It  tries  to  provide  a  place  of  innocent  pastime 
and  social  intercourse  for  workingmen  and 
women  and  children.  It  makes  itself  further 
useful  and  attractive  by  the  addition  of  classes 
of  all  sorts,  industrial  and  literary.  Gymna- 
sium and  physical  culture,  together  with  nurses 
and  physicians,  free  clinics  and  dispensaries, 
attend  to  health.  Finally,  for  those  in  need  of 
immediate  relief,  it  provides  free  employment 
bureaus,  free  legal  advice,  pawn  shops,  "per- 
petual rumage  sales,"  provisions  and  coal  at 
cost,  etc. 

The  down-town  city  church  must  be  insti- 
tutional: for  only  the  institutional  church,  with 
its  club  and  other  social  features,  and  its  edu- 
cational and  recreative  and  relief  activities,  can 
reach  the  neighboring  population.  The  churches 
must  take  note  of  the  gradual  change  in  the 
family  system  going  on  in  parts  of  the  city 
where  everyone  "rooms,"  and  they  must  meet 

'  Cf.  Crapsey,  /.  c,  296:  "We  are  trying  in  a  pitiful  way  to  get 
back  into  real  life  through  what  we  call  the  institutional  church." 


72  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

it  by  changing  methods  adapted  to  families  to 
those  adapted  to  individuals. 

The  principle  of  the  institutional  church  has 
usually  met  with  commendation,  but  occasion- 
ally it  is  objected  to.  Ardent  evangelists  hint 
that  it  is  offered  as  a  substitute  for  spiritual  en- 
thusiasm. Organization  is  alleged  to  be  easier 
than  inspiration.  The  unquestioned  expen- 
siveness  of  the  work  also  brings  criticism  upon 
it — although  Mr.  Stelzle  shows  how  an  institu- 
tional church  can  be  run  on  $ioo  a  year.  And 
it  is  seriously  urged  by  practically  everyone  who 
has  studied  their  working  that  these  churches 
cannot  take  the  place  of  evangelization;  that  in 
them  the  distinctively  personal  religious  motif 
is  apt  to  be  lost  sight  of.  This  objection,  how- 
ever, is  really  based  upon  a  misapprehension, 
due  to  the  meagreness  of  visible  results.  It 
overlooks  "the  difference  between  an  inspira- 
tional and  an  institutional  centre:  (i)  large  con- 
gregations once  or  twice  a  week;  (2)  the  same 
people  in  small  groups  many  times  during  a 
week."  *  The  latter  system  reaches  just  as 
many  people  as  the  former,  but  of  course  in  a 
less  conspicuous  way.  In  the  best  institutional 
churches  each  worker,  teacher,  and  director  is 

*  Judson,  "The  Church  in  Its  Social  Aspect,"  30  Ann.  Am. 
Ac,  436. 

4 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  73 

chosen  not  only  for  his  ability  in  his  special  de- 
partment, but  also  for  his  religious  persuasive- 
ness, and  at  every  step  he  is  expected  to  keep  the 
ultimate  religious  aim  in  view.    This  insures  the 
continuous  bringing  to  bear  of  religious  influ- 
ences in  a  pervasive  way,  which  cannot  help  but  \ 
get  results  which  are  more  certain  and  lasting  \ 
than  any  which  follow  the  electric  touch  of  the/ 
transient  evangelist. 

The   subject  of  the   organization,   methods, 
range  of  activities,  and  distribution  of  institu- 
tional churches  ^  is  interesting  and  important, 
but  its   treatment  would  require  a  volume  in  it- 
self.   Millions  of  dollars  and  thousands  of  lives 
are  poured  into  this  work.     There  is  scarcely  | 
a    slum  district    to  be    found    in  England    or 
America,  or  in  the  large  cities  of  France  and 
Germany,    where    the    institutional    church    is 
not.    Certainly  no  one  who  knows  anything  of; 
the  subject  can  question  the  greatness  of  the  1 
effort   the   churches   are   making   to   help   the  J 

*  There  is  as  yet  no  adequate  and  comprehensive  treatment  of 
this  subject.  The  best  sources  within  my  knowledge  are:  for 
England:  Booth,  "Life  and  Labor  in  London,"  Part  III,  7  vols.; 
for  America:  Judson,  "The  Institutional  Church,"  Judson, 
"The  Church  in  Its  Social  Aspect,"  30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  436;  Wm.  J. 
Kerby,  "Social  Work  in  the  Catholic  Church,  ibid.,  477;  Hodges 
and  Reichert,  "The  Administration  of  an  Institutional  Chvu-ch"; 
"Annual  Reports"  and  other  publications  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's, St.  George's,  and  Judson  Memorial,  New  York,  and  of 
Morgan  Memorial,  Boston. 


74  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

poorer  classes  through  this  channel.     We  pass 
to  a  consideration  of  its  results. 

The  material  helpfulness  of  these  activities  is 
obvious.  They  reach  and  relieve  minor  cases 
with  a  directness  and  an  efficiency  which  "or- 
ganized charity"  cannot  equal;  and  in  larger 
matters  their  tendency  is  more  and  more  to 
apply  the  canons  of  scientific  relief.  And,  on 
the  whole,  their  spiritual  efficacy  must  also  be 
admitted,  though  it  is  somewhat  harder  to  as- 
certain. The  influence  of  these  churches  is 
probably  larger  than  appears.  The  people  as 
a  rule  transfer  to  their  homes  the  lessons  learned 
in  them.  Personal  hygiene,  sanitation,  im- 
provements in  cooking  and  housekeeping,  are 
unconsciously  absorbed  and  applied,  to  say 
nothing  of  lessons  in  courtesy,  patience,  and 
kindliness.  Booth  notes  that  conditions  in  East 
London,  where  institutional  churches  abound, 
have  vastly  improved  in  the  last  twenty  or  thirty 
years.  He  attributes  this,  however,  to  the  school 
training  and  to  the  devoted  lives  of  some  of  the 
clergy,  rather  than  to  the  direct  influence  of  the 
institutional  churches.  The  best  results  are 
reached  from  work  among  the  children.  Boys' 
clubs  and  Sunday-schools  help  street  children 
in  every  way,  physically,  mentally,  and  morally. 
Boys'    Brigades    are    sometimes    successful    in 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  75 

social  work.  These  activities  are  often  instru- 
mental in  breaking  up  the  demoralizing  "gangs" 
into  which  street  children  gather.  Work  in- 
tended to  reach  and  reform  the  more  depraved 
classes  of  adults  is  less  successful.  The  attempts 
to  improve  the  character  of  the  common  lodging 
houses  in  London  are  said  to  be  a  complete  fail-  i 
ure.  In  Boston  and  New  York  the  immediate 
neighborhoods  of  the  churches  are  sometimes 
cleared  of  vicious  resorts,  but  the  inmates  are, 
as  a  rule,  only  driven  to  other  parts  of  the  city.   / 

As  to  the  effect  on  the  churches  themselves,  itC 
is  everywhere  evident  that  institutional  work  ) 
raises  their  spiritual  tone.  Their  methods,  de- 
manding the  voluntary  cooperation  of  large 
numbers  of  workers,  get  old  and  young  inter- 
ested in  philanthropy  in  a  practical  way,  with 
the  best  of  effects  on  the  characters  of  those 
who  engage  in  the  work. 

But  as  to  the  response  of  the  people  sought, 
there  is  not  so  much  certainty.  Dr.  Strong  cites 
statistics  to  show  that  institutional  methods  in- 
crease church  membership;  *  but  where  mem- 
bership carries  with  it  certain  extra  privileges, 
and  reductions  from  regular  prices  for  provi- 
sions, tickets,  etc.,  the  nature  and  value  of  such 
increase   are   questionable.     Boys*   and    men's 

'  Strong,  I.  c,  245. 


76  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

clubs  sometimes  bring  good  results,  as  do  also 
Mothers'    Meetings;     the    social   opportunities 
offered  are  sometimes  "a  good  bait."   Occasion- 
ally those  who  avail  themselves  of  these  advan- 
tages feel  that  they  ought,  out  of  gratitude,  if  for 
no  other  reason,  to  "join"  the  church.     Work 
on  the  little  children  is  extremely  effective  every- 
■  where   in   securing  attendance,   at  least  while 
they  are  still  children.     The  attendance  at  in- 
stitutional Sunday-schools  is  remarkable;   even 
the   indifferent   send   their   children   to   them. 
The  kindergartens  also  are  effective  in  securing 
children  from  the  tenements.    The  eagerness  of 
i     all  classes  of  people  to  send  their  children  to 
I     Sunday-schools    and    church    kindergartens    is 
I     their  unconscious  but  great  tribute  to  the  value 
!      of  religious  instruction  at  some  period  in  life. 
But  Charles  Booth's  investigations  in  London 
throw  the  emphasis  on  the  other  side  of  the 
story.     He  reports  that  in  one  particularly  bad 
section  rough  lives  are  controlled,  restrained,  and 
blessed  by  the  care  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but 
are  rarely  improved  morally  or  materially.    The 
religious  influence  on  boys  in  the  Church  Army 
Home  is  practically  nil.     The  Strand  is  over- 
visited   and   over-relieved,   but   spiritually   un- 
touched.    He  concludes  that  on  the  whole  the 
influence  of  the  Gospel  is  over  those  who  work, 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  77 

^  and  only  to  a  very  small  extent  over  those  for 
whom  they  work.    He  reports  even  a  half-hearted 
response  to  the  churches'  offers  of  material  and 
social   help.     He  tells  of  great  neighborhood 
parties,  where  300  people  would  be  invited  by 
streets;  80  would  come,  and  out  of  these  80  one 
would  go  to  church.     Even  a  soiree  dansante^ 
limited  exclusively  to  communicants,  was  un- 
successful.    The  attractions  of  warmth,  light, 
and  music,  which  would  draw  a  man  into  a  sa- 
loon any  time,  fail  to  get  him  into  church.    It  is 
harder  to  get  workingmen  to  attend  a  free  lec- 
ture in  a  church  than  in  a  town  hall.    Church 
clubs  for  workingmen  are  sometimes  success-, 
ful;   but  they  must  be  strictly  secular;   and  thej 
decided  tendency  is  for  the  church  to  become  \ 
an  adjunct  to  the  club,  sometimes  the  "par-    ) 
son"  being  ruled  out  altogether. 

Strong's  statistics  to  the  eflPect  that  institu- 
tionalization helps  church  attendance  are  not 
borne  out  by  the  testimony  of  active  workers. 
Thus  Dr.  Judson,*  one  of  the  ablest  institu- 
tional leaders  in  New  York,  says:  "I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  institutionalism  is  a  handi- 
cap to  church  progress."  One  important  rea- 
son for  this  is  that  people  do  not  care  to  attend 
the  church  where  charity  is  held  out  to  them; 

'  Judson,  30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  438,  440. 


78  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

it  is  likely  to  be  a  constant  reminder  of  scenes  of 
suffering  and  humiliation.  As  a  rule,  institu- 
tional churches  which  carry  on  an  immense  and 
important  work  have  very  small  Sunday  con- 
gregations. If  those  whom  they  help  affiliate 
themselves  with  any  church,  they  do  it  else- 
where. 

On  the  whole,  one  must  conclude  that  al- 
though the  institutional  churches  have  magnifi- 
cently exonerated  organized  Christianity  from 
the  charge  of  failure  to  attend  to  the  immediate 
needs  of  the  poor,  they  have  not,  on  the  other 
hand,  succeeded  thereby  in  changing  the  atti- 
tude of  the  people  toward  the  churches.  The 
laborer  accepts  the  churches*  benefits  with  more 
or  less  gratitude;  but  he  has  not  granted  any 
larger  share  of  respect  to  their  faith  or  their 
worship.  He  is  as  indifferent  as  ever.  A  visitor 
in  London  was  told  "not  to  worry:  if  the  peo- 
ple wished  to  go  to  church  they  would  do  so;  if 
they  did  not,  they  would  stay  away."  Other 
visitors  reported  to  Booth :  "  Give  a  man  his  pot 
and  pipe  and  he  will  be  best  pleased."  "They 
perhaps  prefer  the  church  to  the  Hall  of  Science, 
but  what  they  really  want  is  to  be  left  alone." 
Certainly  this  desire  to  be  left  alone  has  not 
been  much  altered,  in  London  or  elsewhere,  by 
the  institutional  church.    One  is  almost  forced 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  79 

to  agree  with  Booth,  as  one  looks  over  the  whole 
field,  that  the  old  system  of  personal  relations 
between  the  pastor  and  his  people  was  more 
effective,  so  far  as  church  attendance  is  con- 
cerned, than  the  new  elaborate  machinery  of  I 
institutionalism.  ^ 

3.   The  Mission 

The  distinction  between  the  mission  and  the 
institutional  church  is  usually  difficult  to  draw, 
and  sometimes  does  not  exist  at  all  in  any  re- 
spect except  administration.  A  mission  is  usu- 
ally an  adjunct  to  a  "regular'*  church,  main- 
tained in  the  slum  end  of  town  by  the  wealthy 
people  at  the  other  end,  and  governed  by  the 
latter.  Its  work  ordinarily  includes  some  or  all 
of  the  activities  of  the  institutional  churches, 
and,  in  addition,  a  more  aggressive  campaign  of 
"visiting,"  the  whole  work  being  also  suffused 
with  a  greater  glow  of  evangelical  fervor.  It  is, 
perhaps,  the  special  emphasis  on  evangelization 
which  really  distinguishes  the  mission  from  the 
institutional  church.  The  impulse  for  the  move- 
ment came  from  Lord  Shaftesbury,  who  was  Pres-  v 
idem  of  the  great  Casters  Mission  in  London  until 
his  death.  Rescue  work  for  men  and  women, 
special  missions  for  all  classes,  including  chil- 
dren and  cripples,  lodging  house  and  kitchen 


8o  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

missions,  and  special  evangelistic  services  of  all 
kinds,  are  indications  of  the  range  of  their  activi- 
ties over  and  beyond  the  usual  institutional  work. 

As  for  results,  our  evidence  again  comes 
mainly  from  England.  Booth  reports  that  in 
the  case  of  one  typical  great  mission  an  indi- 
vidual is  now  and  then  won  to  a  better  life,  but 
in  the  main  its  efforts  are  wasted,  or  worse  than 
wasted.  Not  that  the  salvation  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual is  an  insignificant  matter,  but  that  it  does 
not  seem  proportional  to  the  effort  expended. 
In  the  opinion  of  an  old  lady  district  visitor  their 
influence  in  low  streets,  where  the  most  strenu- 
ous efforts  have  been  made,  is  very  small.  The 
indifference  to  lodging  house  and  kitchen  mis- 
sions is  marked;  their  chief  value  is  to  those 
who  do  the  work.  The  most  substantial  result 
of  the  activity  of  the  missions,  according  to 
Booth,  is  in  the  better  appearance  of  the  chil- 
dren in  their  districts.  Their  open-air  services 
are  not  successful.  They  are  specifically 
charged  by  Stelzle  with  failure  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  their  surroundings,  and  with  neglect  of 
the  immediate  interests  of  their  members.  Their 
efforts  are  misdirected. 

The  efficiency  of  the  Salvation  Army,  which 
is  practically  a  series  of  missions,  has  been  seri- 
ously questioned,  especially  on  the  ground  of 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  8i 

disproportionateness  of  results  to  efforts  and 
expenditure.  It  is  also  believed  that  the  Salva- 
tion Army,  even  more  than  other  missions,  has 
unduly  neglected  the  sociological  possibilities  of 
its  work;  and  also  that  it  is  recklessly  regardless 
of  the  canons  of  scientific  charity.  On  the  other  / 
hand,  the  Salvation  Army  is,  from  the  points  of  j 
view  of  honesty,  of  tenacity  of  purpose,  and 
of  large-scale  results,  unquestionably  the  best 
administered  and  most  successful  missionary 
enterprise  of  which  we  have  knowledge. 

The  failure  of  the  missions  to  draw  the  masses 
into  direct  affiliation  with  them  is  practically 
complete.  They  have  not  made  the  slightest 
dent  in  the  hard  shell  of  popular  indifference. 
The  people  prefer  the  churches  to  the  missions, 
and  if  they  go  an)rwhere  at  all  they  go  to  the 
churches. 

Absence  of  democracy  in  the  management  is 
one  reason  for  this  failure.  People  do  not  favor 
the  absentee  landlord  system  extended  to  their 
spiritual  homes.  It  is  also  possible  that  the 
practice,  sometimes  resorted  to,  of  converting 
drinking  and  dancing  saloons  into  missions  and 
retaining  their  old  names,  "Paddy's  Goose," 
"The  Mahogany  Bar,'*  etc.,  is  not  conducive  to 
the  highest  respect  for  the  church.  It  does  not 
degrade  religion  to  popularize  it;  but  it  is  a  sen- 


82  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

ous  mistake  to  associate  it  too  intimately  with 
those  things  to  which  the  best  instincts  of  hu- 
manity, even  in  its  lower  manifestations,  have 
an  invincible  antipathy. 

4.   The  Settlement 

The  settlements  stand  in  a  class  by  them- 
selves; for,  with  a  few  exceptions,  it  is  their 
consistent  policy,  as  in  Mansfield  House,  Toyn- 
bee  Hall,  and  others  in  London,  and  the  innu- 
merable settlements  in  America,  to  avoid  any 
distinctively  "religious'*  activity,  in  the  usual 
formal  sense  of  the  term.  Their  spirit  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  best  in  organized  religion, 
but  their  methods  are  so  different  that  they  have 
preferred  not  to  acknowledge  any  affiliation. 

This  policy  has  been  hotly  contested.  It  is 
said  that  the  settlements  should  not  ignore  the 
religious  problem,  "for  there  is  no  morality 
apart  from  religion."  *  And  so  it  is  insisted 
that  every  settlement  should  be  a  "Christian'* 
settlement;  or,  at  least,  that  there  should  be 
some  settlements  specifically  "religious"  in 
their  nature.  "  One  of  the  greatest  problems  of 
the  Christian  settlement,"  says  Mr.  Evans,  "is 
to  find  out  how  genuine  Christianity  can  be 

'  Thomas  S.  Evans,  "The  Christian  Settlement,"  30  Ann.  Am. 
Ac,  484. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  83 

effectively  introduced  into  the  individual  and 
social  life  of  a  community  blindly  prejudiced 
against  everything  that  bears  the  name  of 
Christian."  A  Christian  settlement  should  not 
attempt  to  be  denominational.  It  is  not  a  prop- 
aganda station.  It  should  win  the  people  to 
Christianity  and  then  let  them  choose  their  own 
form  of  worship  and  church  connection.  In  this 
way  the  settlements  would  be  contributing  some- 
thing toward  the  support  and  upbuilding  of  the 
churches  from  which  they  have  drawn  so  much 
of  their  inspiration:  they  would  be  helping 
"religion." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  well 
pointed  out  *  that  a  discussion  of  the  relations 
of  the  settlements  to  religion  depends  upon  the 
definition  of  religion.  A  settlement  like  Toyn- 
bee  Hall  is  assuredly  not  irreligious,  though  it 
abstains  from  definite  religious  teaching.  So- 
cial settlements  among  the  immigrants  in  Amer- 
ica have  been  well  called  "essentially  religious 
in  their  nature."  ^  Lyman  Abbott  says : '  "The 
religion  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  piety  without 
humanity;    it  built  cathedrals  and  burnt  here- 

*Mary  Kingsbury  Simkhovitch,  "The  Settlement's  Relation 
to  Religion,"  30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  490. 

*  John  R.  Commons,  "  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America,"  219. 

'Lyman  Abbott,  "The  Outcast,"  0«^/wife,  Vol.  LXXXIX,  p. 
616. 


84  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

tics.  The  religion  of  the  twentieth  century  is 
humanity  without  piety;  it  maintains  great 
charities,  but  is  not  remarkable  for  its  church- 
going.  The  latter  is  the  more  Christly  religion 
of  the  two."  Religion  within  these  latter  years 
has  been  given  a  broader  definition,  and  is  made 
to  include  "any  group  action  which  commands 
the  best  and  the  most  of  us."  ^  By  this  defini- 
tion settlement  work,  which  commands  the  un- 
selfish devotion  of  valuable  lives  organized  and 
cooperating  for  the  uplift  of  humanity,  is  most 
certainly  religious.  According  to  Stein  ^  the 
function  of  religion  in  the  future  will  be  the 
perfection  of  the  Man-type.  It  is  in  this  work 
that  the  settlements  are  now  engaged.  This 
new  definition,  which  is  at  present  much  more 
likely  to  win  the  approval  of  the  sociologist 
than  of  the  theologian,  is,  nevertheless,  the  con- 
ception which  has  the  future  before  it.  Its  career 
of  conquest  is  already  begun :  settlement  work- 
ers, no  matter  from  what  church  or  creed  they 
come,  become  speedily  socialized. 

The  efficiency  of  the  "secular"  settlements  is 
enormous  in  comparison  with  the  failure  of  the 

*  This  definition  gives  a  basis  to  Mr.  Crapsey's  contention 
(/.  c,  305),  that  the  Preamble  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  is  a  statement  of  religious  principles. 

"  Ludwig  Stein,  "Die  Soziale  Frage  im  Lichte  der  Philosophie," 
673. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  85 

"religious"  agencies  we  have  been  considering; 
and  this  fact  cannot  fail  to  have  left  its  impress 
upon  the  popular  mind.    The  nev^r  kind  of  reli- 
gion "works,"  while  the  old,  in  some  particulars 
at  least,  does  not;    and  the  people  have  made 
their  choice  pragmatically,  as  they  usually  do. 
It  is  observed  even  that  when  a  religious  settle- 
ment, such  as  Oxford  House,  attempts  to  en- 
force "religion"  in  its  clubs,  the  effort  fails.    It! 
almost  appears  that  the  masses  of  the  people/ 
have  no  use  whatever  for  "religion"  as  the  term! 
has  been  until  now  generally  understood.  / 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  SOCIAL  QUESTION 

TX7*HEN  the  workingmen  are  asked  why,  in 
the  face  of  such  efforts  in  their  behalf  as 
we  have  been  surveying,  they  are  still  antago- 
nistic to  the  churches,  their  reply  is  likely  to  be 
to  the  effect  that  these  efforts,  though  com- 
mendable in  their  intention,  fail  to  get  at  the 
root  of  the  difficulty.    They  may,  at  the  best, 
reach  and  relieve  some  of  the  aspects  of  pov- 
erty, but  they  do  not  touch  poverty  itself.  The 
churches  work  on   individual  cases,   and   the 
basis  of  their  ethics  is  individualistic;   but,  say 
the  people,  the  disease  is  a  social  disease,  and 
ethics  should  be  primarily  social.    Christianity 
was  rejected  by  Mazzini  and  by  Frederic  Har- 
rison on  account  of  its  selfish  individualism. 
.This  is  "the  sociological  age  of  the  world";* 
I  and  the  questions  in  which  people  are  inter- 
I   ested  are  no  longer  theological,  but  sociological. 
\  The  "social  movement'*  is  the  people's  move- 
\  ment;  it  is  their  religion;  its  problems  are  ulti- 
Jmately  religious  problems,  and  many  men  are 

*  Strong,  /.  c,  130. 

86 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  g; 

glad  to  recognize  their  religious  aspects.  In 
fact,  "there  is  so  much  religion  in  the  labor 
movement  that  some  day  it  will  become  a  ques- 
tion whether  the  church  will  capture  the  labor 
movement  or  the  labor  movement  capture  the 
church."  ^  It  appears  rather  to  be  a  question 
whether  the  church  will  capture  the  people,  the 
majority  of  whom  are  laborers,  and  regain  its 
hold  in  the  world,  or  whether  it  will  allow  them 
to  organize  their  own  social  religion  in  their  own 
way.  For  as  religion  in  the  past  grew  out  of 
social  ideals,  so  it  may  again  in  the  future. 

Hence  it  becomes  of  the  utmost  importance 
for  the  churches  to  determine  their  right  rela- 
tions to  the  social  question,  and,  when  found,  to 
maintain  them.  What  should  be  their  attitude 
toward  social  reform  and  politics  ^  What  is 
their  present  practice .?  These  questions  we 
will  consider  now;  the  subject  of  social  revolu- 
tion will  be  dealt  with  in  Part  III. 

I.   The  Teaching  of  Jesus 

In  seeking  to  ascertain  the  attitude  of  Jesus 
toward  the  social  question  one  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  problem  was  never  presented  to 
him  in  the  sense  in  which  we  understand  it. 
The  labor  problem  of  to-day  is  largely  ethical 

*  Stelzle,  /.  c,  29. 


88  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

and  religious,  and  to  that  extent  it  may  fall 
within  the  purview  of  Jesus's  teaching;  but  it 
is  also  an  economic  problem,  the  factors  of 
which  are  a  very  recent  development  in  history. 
It  began  with  the  "industrial  revolution,"  the 
sudden  wide  application  of  steam  power  to  in- 
dustry, and  the  rise  of  the  factory  system;  and 
as  to  this  phase  of  it,  Jesus  could  have  had  noth- 
ing to  say. 

There  is  too  much  of  a  tendency  among  writ- 
ers on  this  subject  to-day  to  rely  upon  half-true 
generalizations.  Thus,  any  such  general  state- 
ment as  that  "the  Bible  upholds  the  dignity  of 
labor,"  ^  is  not  only  unhelpful  but  is  also  to  a 
degree  untrue;  for  it  depends  upon  which  part 
of  the  Bible  is  in  mind.  The  Bible  begins  with 
the  proposition  that  labor  was  inflicted  upon 
mankind  as  a  punishment  and  a  curse.  Simi- 
larly, the  statement  so  often  made  that  the  He- 
brew religion  was  primarily  social  ^  is  also  partly 
untrue,  because  one-sided.  The  Mosaic  legis- 
lation was,  of  course,  as  legislation  for  a  com- 
munity, social.'  "The  Bible  is  the  most 
democratic  book  in  the  world;"  *  true  enough, 

'  Cochran,  /.  c,  441. 

*  J.  A.  Leighton,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Civilization  of  To-day," 
56;  Walter  Rauschenbusch,  "  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,"  8. 

'  Fairbairn,  /.  c,  1 24. 

*  Stein,  /.  c,  674. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  89 

if  one  is  careful  about  his  "texts."  It  has  also 
been  made  to  support  the  divine  right  of  kings 
and  the  institution  of  human  slavery.  It  is  true 
that  there  is  a  social  aspect  of  Hebrew  prophecy,* 
and,  perhaps,  a  subordination  of  individual  to 
social  elements  in  Hebrew  songs;  ^  but  it  would 
not  be  at  all  difficult  to  show  that  Old  Testa- 
ment ethics,  like  any  ethics,  was  and  must  be 
both  social  and  individual:  individual  in  its 
aim,  social  in  its  results.  Hence,  to  prove  that 
Jesus  was  the  successor  of  the  prophets  is  not 
necessarily  to  demonstrate  that  his  ethics  was 
purely  social. 

An  exclusive  stress  laid  upon  either  the  social 
or  the  individual  phases  of  Jesus's  teaching  is 
sure  to  be  misleading,  for  the  gospel  contains 
both.  Half  of  Jesus's  preaching  is  a  social  mes- 
sage— it  may  even  be  granted,  temporarily,  that 
the  Second  Commandment  was  intended  as  a 
practical  working  principle  to  control  the  organ- 
ization of  human  society — but  the  First  Com- 
mandment still  remains  on  the  books,  and  that 
half  of  the  gospel  deals  with  the  personal  rela- 
tions of  individuals  with  their  God.  Christian- 
ity defined  religion  in  terms  of  social  service,  as 
well  as  in  terms  of  personal  hoUness;  but  it  did 

^  Ross,  /.  c,  60. 

"  Richard  T.  Ely,  "Social  Aspects  of  Christianity,"  151. 


90  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

not  mean  to  distract  attention  entirely  from  the 
t  necessity  of  personal  holiness.    Service  and  self- 
I  sacrifice  are  primary  qualities  in  Jesus's  eth- 
)  ics/  and  they  are  both  necessarily  social  vir- 
j  tues;   but  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  they 
)  are  also  virtues  which  must  necessarily  be  prac- 
tised by  individuals,  and  to  which  individuals 
I  must  be  converted  before  society  can  be  bene- 
I   fited  by  them.   Social  service,  in  short,  is  not  the 
I  whole  of  Christian  righteousness,  though  it  is  a 
I   very  necessary  and  a  hitherto  unduly  neglected 
\  part  of  it. 

There  is  a  similar  one-sidedness  about  the 
current  estimates  of  Jesus's  attitude  toward  the 
rich  and  the  poor.  The  prophets  were  cham- 
pions of  the  poor.''  Jesus  had  natural  affinities 
to  the  lowly.*  "The  poor  were  the  people  with 
whom  Jesus  most  clearly  identified  himself."  * 
Property  was  of  little  value  in  his  eyes.' 
These  statements  are  all  true,  so  far  as  they  go; 
the  sympathy  of  Jesus  for  the  unfortunate  can- 
not be  exaggerated.  As  Dr.  Peabody  says: 
"  Jesus  bears  the  burden  of  the  poor  always  on 
his  heart."     But  when  Nitti  writes  that  "for 

*  Peabody,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,"  199. 
'  Rauschenbusch,  /.  c,  11. 

'  Ibid.,  82;  Adolf  Harnack,  "What  is  Christianity?"  100. 

*  Washington  Gladden,  "The  New  Idolatry,"  128. 

*  Crapsey,  /.  c,  46. 


t\\ 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  91 

Jesus  poverty  was  an  indispensable  condition 
for  gaining  admission  to  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven,"  *  and  when  Rauschenbusch  adds  to 
this  that  Jesus  was  opposed  to  wealth  on  social 
grounds,  they  are  manifestly  going  beyond  what 
the  records  warrant.  The  story  of  the  "rich 
young  man,"  which  is  fairly  representative  of 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  on  this  subject,  shows 
that  when  the  acquisition  or  possession  of  great 
wealth  became  a  hindrance  to  the  highest  per- 
sonal and  social  development  of  the  individual, 
Jesus  opposed  it,  not  as  wealth,  but  as  a  hin 
drance.^  X 

Did  Jesus  possess  the  "revolutionary  con- 
sciousness" claimed  for  him  by  recent  writers, 
following  in  the  track  of  Renan  and  the  social- 
ists? ^  According  to  Nitti,*  "we  are  bound  to 
admit  that  Christianity  was  a  vast  economic 
revolution  more  than  anything  else."  Crapsey 
says  that  the  attitude  of  Jesus  toward  the  State 
was  hostile.^  Herron  writes:*  "The  Beatitudes 
are  the  most  revolutionary  political  principles 
ever  stated."    On  the  other  hand,  many  author- 

>  F.  S.  Nitti,  "Catholic  Socialism"  (Eng.  Tr.,  1895),  58. 
'  Peabody,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question,"  210. 
'  Cf.  below,  p.  106. 

*  Nitti,  /.  c,  64,  citing  Ernest  Renan,  "Marc  Aurfele,"  598. 
'  Crapsey,  /.  c,  42,  48. 

•  George  D.  Herron,  "The  Christian  Society,"  53. 


92  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

ities  assert  that  Jesus  was  not  a  revolutionist.* 
Again  we  find  part  truth  and  part  error,  a  mis- 
take of  emphasis.  Jesus  led  no  revolt  against 
the  constituted  authorities  of  his  time;  but  he 
did  give  utterance  to  principles  which,  if  con- 
sistently practised,  could  not  but  revolutionize 
society  in  some  of  its  aspects,  then  as  now. 
"Jesus  is  not  a  social  demagogue,  he  is  a  spir- 
itual seer."  ^  He  devotes  himself  not  to  the 
alteration  of  environments  but  to  the  amend- 
ment of  personalities.  That  this  process  should 
work  out  eventually  to  the  reformation  of  soci- 
eties is  not  primary  but  incidental  to  Jesus's 
purpose. 

That  Jesus  was  not  an  economist,  that  he  laid 
down  no  programme,  there  has  been  so  far  no 
one  hardy  enough  to  deny.  Even  those  who  in- 
sist that  the  spirit  of  economic  reform  is  to  be 
found  in  his  teaching,  make  no  claim  to  discov- 
ering its  method  there.  "Jesus  had  no  eco- 
nomic theories,  no  interest  in  industrialism," 
says  Campbell,^  "  he  laid  down  no  directions  for 
the  administration  of  the  ideal  state,  or  the  / 
guidance  of  the  individual  in  his  social  relation-  | 
ships :  his  idea  was  supernatural  revoUition,  not   / 

*  Hamack,  /.  c,   102;    George  B.  Stevens,    "New  Testament 
Theology,"  117;  Leighton,  /.  c,  106. 
^  Peabody,  /.  c,  208. 
"  Campbell,  /.  c,  86,  176. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  93 

social  evolution."  Jesus  was  not  concerned 
with  political  or  economic  organization;  whether 
he  intended  even  to  found  a  church  is  question- 
able, and  to  me  the  evidence  against  seems  to 
preponderate.*  That  he  is  not  responsible  for 
the  modern  conception  of  church  organization 
must  certainly  be  admitted  by  every  one. 

That  Jesus  was  not  primarily  interested  even 
in  the  ethical  aspects  of  economic  questions  has 
been  strongly  maintained.  "The  teaching  of 
Jesus  is  not  a  doctrine  of  economic  justice  and 
equitable  distribution,"  says  Peabody;^  "it  ex- 
pands into  the  greater  problem  of  spiritual  re- 
generation and  preparedness."  Jesus  regards 
"not  comfort  but  character  as  the  object  of 
economic  change."  It  is  not  the  Christian  dis- 
tribution, but  the  Christian  getting  of  gains, 
which  is  important.  The  gospel  is  not  con- 
cerned with  material  wants.^  Jesus  was  inter- 
ested more  in  the  duties  than  in  the  rights  of 
men;  his  teaching  is  based  on  their  fundamental 
needs,*  which  are  spiritual.  This  view,  held  by 
able  men  and  on  good  grounds,  also  seems  to 
me  to  err  from  one-sided  emphasis;  it  overlooks 

*  Stevens,  I.  c,  135;  Weiss,  "Lehre  Jesu,"  156;  Wendt,  "Lehre 
Jesu,"  180. 

*  Peabody,  /.  c,  215,  313,  223. 
'  Harnack,  /.  c,  passim. 

*  Shailer  Mathews,  "Social  Teaching  of  Jesus,"  177,  181. 


94  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

a  fact  suggested  by  the  last  sentence:  that  man's 
material  needs  are  in  a  sense  as  fundamental  as 
his  spiritual.  We  are  not  concerned  with  the 
needs  of  disembodied  spirits.  Nor  must  it  be 
ignored  that  the  distribution  of  wealth  among 
the  factors  involved  in  its  production  is  a  hu- 
man activity,  as  well  as  the  acquisition  of 
riches;  and  the  principles  of  ethics  and  of 
Christianity  must,  to  be  consistent,  be  applied 
as  well  to  one  as  to  the  o'ther.  Jesus  was  not 
interested  in  the  mechanism  of  distribution;  he 
could  have  known  nothing  of  it  as  it  exists  to- 
day; but  that  does  not  exempt  it  from  the  ap- 
plication of  the  test  of  his  spirit. 

It  has  been  said  that  Jesus*s  social  teaching 
is  implicit  in  his  account  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.*  Perhaps  no  conception  in  the  entire 
range  of  our  sacred  literature  has  suffered  such 
violence  of  contrary  and  irreconcilable  inter- 
pretation as  this  idea  of  "the  Kingdom  of  God." 
It  has  been  described  as  a  social  ideal,  a  model 
on  whose  lines  society  should  be  organized.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  said  to  be  a  purely  spirit- 
ual ideal,  a  metaphorical  name  for  all  those 
who  are  members  of  God's  family.  By  way  of 
compromise,  it  is  suggested  that  there  is  a  social 
motif  in  it,  but  that  Jesus  aims   beyond  this 

» D.  S.  Cairns,  "Christianity  and  the  Modem  World,"  i86. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  95 

social  aspect,  and  its  outcome  is  a  mystical 
union  of  the  members  of  the  Kingdom  in  the 
Body  of  Christ,  the  Church.  There  are  scores 
of  variations  on  these  three  themes. 

The  resolution  of  this  discord  would  seem  to 
be  a  matter  for  the  exegetes.  The  Gospels  are  ' 
not  at  all  clear,  definite,  or  consistent  on  the 
subject;  and  there  has  developed  recently  a 
tendency  to  read  almost  any  ideal  into  the  con- 
cept. Scholars,  however,  are  coming  more  and 
more  to  the  opinion  that  its  meaning  varied 
from  time  to  time  in  Jesus*s  mind;  at  one  time 
it  was  an  external  kingdom,  to  be  realized  in 
the  near  or  remote  future,  in  heaven  or  on 
earth;  at  another  time,  it  was  the  collective 
name  for  those  who  recognized  their  spiritual 
kinship;  in  other  words,  it  was  sometimes  po- 
litical and  sometimes  spiritual,  sometimes  tem- 
poral and  sometimes  eternal,  in  its  significance. 
On  the  whole,  the  idea  is  altogether  too  vague 
for  us  to  draw  any  definite  conclusions  from  it. 

The  residuum  of  this  brief  discussion  may  be^ 
stated  thus :  The  teachings  of  Jesus  are  both  in-  /  y 
dividualistic  and  social;  individualistic  in  sol 
far  as  they  are  concerned  with  the  relations  of  \. 
each  soul  to  its  Father;  social  in  so  far  as  they  I 
deal  with  the  relations  of  souls  with  each  other,  j 
His  sympathies  were  with  the  poor,  and  he  had  ^ 


96  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

r  no  prejudice  against  wealth  merely  as  wealth. 
He  was  not  a  reformer  or  a  revolutionist  of  the 
external  type;  he  had  no  economic  or  political 
programme;    he  was  interested  primarily  in  in- 

fternal,  spiritual  reformation. 

2.   The  Churches*  Present  Theory 

The  churches  to-day  are,  theoretically,  in 
substantial  accord  with  this  position,  although 
they  have  not  until  recently  been  much  inter- 
ested in  the  social  side  of  Jesus's  teaching.  So- 
cial religion  is  in  reality  a  new  experience,  as 
"social  ethics"  is  a  new  science.  The  churches* 
hymns,  dating  from  the  older  days,  are  pre- 
dominantly individual. 

The  progress  of  the  new  social  feeling  has  not 
been  easy  or  unchallenged.  For  instance,  a  re- 
cent writer  has  felt  moved  to  enter  a  protest  in 
favor  of  a  reinstatement  of  emphasis  on  spir- 
itual individuality,*  alleging  that  a  life  of  serv- 
ice would  solve  all  problems,  and  that  a  true 
life  for  the  individual,  conscientiously  lived,  is 
itself  truly  social.  Society,  he  urges  with  con- 
siderable force,  would  necessarily  be  uplifted 
through  the  elevation  of  the  individual.  The 
more  modern  attitude,  however,  and  the  one 

■  Leighton,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Civilization  of  To-day";  cf. 
also  Crooker,  "The  Church  of  To-day." 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  97 

which  is  slowly  but  surely  occupying  the  whole    / 
field,  is  that  the  church  should  work  through  / 
\\  the  individual  not  alone  as  an  individual,  but  / 
iJ  as  a  cell  in  the  social  organism.     But  it  is  still  \ 
generally  insisted  that,  though  the  reformation 
of  society  is  the  ultimate  goal,  regeneration  of  T 
the  individual  must  come  first,  for  two  reasons:  | 
I,  society  is  made  up  of  individuals;   2,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  church,  by  which  the  reformation 
should  be  achieved,  is  dependent  upon  the  per- 
fection of  its  individual  members. 

But  among  the  more  radical  there  is  a  strong 
and  growing  feeling  of  the  inadequacy  of  this 
programme.  The  "simple  gospel"  is  not  suflR- 
cient.  Love  of  one's  enemies,  "resist  not  evil," 
may  be  good  individualistic  ethics,  but  they 
have  no  place  in  the  modern  world.  An  indi- 
vidualistic religion  is  not  adequate  to  to-day's 
needs.  The  churches  are  in  error  in  looking  to 
the  sinner  rather  than  to  the  "sinned  against";  \ 
it  must  be  recognized  that  the  sinner  is  to  / 
some  extent  a  product  of  circumstances.  The 
churches  do  well  to  insist  that  a  Christian  must 
be  a  philanthropist;  but  they  should  not  glory 
in  their  charitable  institutions  and  endeavors  so 
long  as  they  leave  the  causes  of  destitution  and 
suffering  untouched.  Nor,  it  is  insisted,  can  the 
churches  hope  to  elevate  modern  society  merely 


98  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

through   the   elevation   of  individuals.     Social 
evils  demand  social  treatment. 

The  real  meaning  of  the  current  insistence 
upon  the  essentially  social  nature  of  Christian 
ethics  is  found  in  this  remark:  "We  should  be 
interested  both  in  the  improvement  of  environ- 
ment and  the  strengthening  of  character."  * 
When  Professor  Ely  says  that  Christianity  is  pri- 
marily concerned  with  this  world  and  its  social 
relations,  and  Mr.  Stelzle  proposes  that  the 
church  must  handle  clearly  the  social  problems 
of  to-day,  and  the  theologically  minded  Dr. 
Mathews  writes  that  the  church  should  teach 
the  intimate  relationship  of  God  to  social  facts 
and  forces,  they  all  mean  that  the  old  exclusive 
emphasis  on  the  training  of  the  individual  char- 
acter, the  cultivation  of  holiness,  must  be  sup- 
plemented by  attention  to  the  environment  in 
which  that  character  must  be  developed,  and 
that  such  attention  must  be  accompanied  by  all 
reasonable  efforts,  individual  and  collective,  to 
make  the  environment  more  favorable  to  both 
material  and  spiritual  improvement  than  it  now 
is.  That  the  church  should  demand  justice  in 
the  wage-scale  and  righteousness  in  politics,  as 
well  as  personal  purity,  is  an  illustration  of  the 

'  Judson,  "The  Church  in  Its  Social  Aspect,"  30  Ann.  Am. 
Ac,  447- 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  99 

new  attitude.  Mr.  Crapsey  says:*  "The  re- 
ligion of  the  state  has  to  do  with  the  salvation 
of  the  community,  hence  is  greater  than  the  re- 
ligion of  the  churches,  which  has  to  do  with  the 
salvation  of  the  individual";  and  the  churches 
now  propose  to  meet  the  criticism  by  assuming 
the  salvation  of  the  community. 

And  so  it  is  felt  more  and  more  that  the 
churches  should  be  organized  on  such  a  plan  as 
to  give  their  ministers  opportunity  for  social 
study  and  social  work;  they  should  be  the  cen- 
tres of  social  activities;  it  is  their  duty  to  know 
in  detail  the  social  structure  of  their  neighbor-  ;' 
hoods;  even  the  Sunday-schools  should  eacV 
have  a  specific  social  function. 

(Not  that  the  churches  are  bound  to  advocate 
any  particular  social  theory.  As  religious 
organizations,  they  have  nothing  to  do  with 
economic  programmes.  It  must  be  clearly  un- 
derstood that  the  church  endorses  only  so  much 
of  the  present  social  system  as  is  in  accordance 
with  Christian  principles,  and  that  it  con- 
demns all  that  is  contrary  thereto.  It  is  not 
concerned  with  the  method  of  economic  re- 
form. It  cannot  advocate  any  specific  "rem- 
edy" except  under  abnormal  conditions  where 
the  need  is  clear  and  urgent,  and  the  operation 

*  Crapsey,  /.  c,  307,  note. 


loo  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

I    and  efficacy  of  the  proposed  remedy  beyond 

1    dispute.pit  is  possible,  however,  to  consider  the 

existence   of  any   evil    conditions   eo   ipso   an 

urgent  demand  for  their  removal;   in  that  case 

the  churches  would  find  themselves  obligated  to 

take  a  hand  in  all  promising  reforms.    This  is 

the  attitude  of  "Christian  socialism"*    in   its 

best  estate;   but  most  churchmen  would  not  go 

so  far.     They  would  be  content  to  have  the 

\/     j     churches  cooperate  with  other  active  agencies 

'      I     by  the  formation  of  an  ethically  trained  public 

I     opinion.     In  the  meantime  they  must  inculcate 

I  a  greater  respect  for  law  and  order  than  has 
distinguished  some  reform  movements  of  late 
years.  They  must  also  on  occasion  emphasize 
their  traditional  method  of  social  regeneration 
through  the  individual,  especially  where  an 
evil  can  be  traced  to  its  source  in  individual 
wrong-doing. 

The  best  principle  to  govern  the  churches' 
treatment  of  proposed  reforms  would  seem  to 
be  to  apply  to  them  first  the  ethical  tests  at  their 
disposal,  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  press,  and 
thus  train  the  people  to  apply  such  ethical  tests 
for  themselves.  In  cases  where  the  need  for 
specific  measures  is  pressing  and  their  justifica- 
tion evident,  the  churches  might  reasonably  be 

*  Kaufmann,  "Christian  Socialism,"  i8.  ^  - 


7^ 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  loi 

expected  to  take  an  active  and  energetic  and,  if 
necessary,  a  leading  part  in  securing  their  adop- 
tion. 

Though  the  churches  should  not  attempt  to 
make  themselves  the  chief  beneficiaries  of  re- 
form, it  would  only  be  the  part  of  a  wise  expe- 
diency for  them  to  recognize  their  own  vital  in- 
terest in  the  solution  of  the  social  question. 
Social  amelioration  and  spiritual  opportunity  go 
together.  Comfortable  homes,  shorter  hours  of 
labor,  physical  and  social  well-being,  mean  will- 
ing ears  and  open  hearts,  a  fruitful  field  for  the 
church-worker.  In  these  days  the  full  church 
is  more  than  likely  to  accompany  the  full  din- 
ner-pail. Moreover,  social  betterment  is  bound 
to  come  anyway;  and  the  churches  would  bet- 
ter be  found  on  the  side  of  the  common  people, 
its  main  beneficiaries,  when  the  victories  arrive, 
rather  than  opposed  to  them:  not  merely  for 
the  sake  of  full  churches,  but  to  save  the  face  of 
organized  religion. 

The  hope  of  society  is  generally  felt  to  lie  in 
greater  respect  for  the  common  good,  in  regard 
for  the  commonwealth.  This  hope  has  an 
ethical  quality  which  should  appeal  to  the 
churches,  if  they  are  properly  constituted;  the 
success  or  failure  of  its  appeal  is  being  applied 
by  the  most  inexorable  observers  as  a  test  of  the 


i 


102  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

present  worthiness  of  the  churches.  There  is 
an  insistent  demand  for  a  rehgion  which  should 
find  its  best  expression  not  in  individual  salva- 
tion or  worship,  "in  postures  and  impostures," 
but  in  an  enthusiasm  for  humanity/  Humanity 
in  the  mass  is  looking  to  the  churches  to-day  to 
see  if  that  religion  is  to  be  found  in  them;  and 
it  is  a  critical  and  challenging  and  undeceivable 
humanity  which  is  conducting  the  examination. 

3.   The  Churches*  Present  Practice 

A  broad  review  of  the  history  of  the  social 
activities  of  the  churches  would  show  that  in 
general  they  have  done  just  about  what  they 
understood  to  be  their  duty,  in  each  age.^  Dif- 
ferences in  accomplishment  are  due  to  differ- 
ences in  conception  of  duty  at  different  periods. 
When  the  churches  thought  they  ought  to  re- 
lieve the  poor,  they  have  done  so;  when  they 
understood  that  they  must  direct  the  policies  of 
nations,  they  did  so;  to-day  they  are  carrying 
on  many  reform  movements  ^  of  greater  or 
less  importance,  but  of  the  kind  their  teachings 
approve.     Get  them  to  understand  what  they 

'  John  Stuart  Mackenzie,  "Social  Philosophy,"  81. 

*  For  history  of  social  activities,  see  Rauschenbusch,  "Chris- 
tianity and  the  Social  Crisis." 

^  For  convenient  presentation  of  data,  see  W.  F.  Crafts,  "  Prac- 
tical Christian  Sociology,"  especially  the  appendices. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  103 

ought  to  do,  and  in  the  long  run  they  will  be 
found  doing  it.  There  is  no  point  in  their  social 
history  at  which  the  churches  can  be  honestly 
charged  with  inconsistency  of  practice  and  the- 
ory (except  in  the  matter  of  equality),  still  less 
with  wilful  neglect.  The  trouble  has  always 
come,  not  from  any  failure  in  the  performance 
of  their  duty  as  they  understood  it,  but  in  their 
misunderstanding  of  their  duty,  viewed  in  the 
light  of  the  most  advanced  conceptions  current 
in  each  period.  The  churches  have  always  been 
slow  in  "finding"  themselves  in  their  continually 
changing  environments. 

Thus  when  it  is  charged  that  the  churches 
have  neglected  to  insist  on  their  social  teaching, 
the  objector  means  that  they  have  not  caught 
up  with  the  broad  conception  of  their  social 
duty  now  held  by  a  few  leaders.  This  is  com- 
paratively innocuous.  But  when  it  is  added 
that  the  churches  have  stood  in  active  or  latent 
opposition  to  needed  reforms,*  this  is  a  direct 
allegation  of  unpardonable  misunderstanding  of 
duty  in  a  matter  of  vital  interest  to  the  people. 
That  the  charge  is  true  cannot  well  be  denied. 
In  England  the  opposition  of  the  churches  to 
political  reform  in  the  '30's  cost  them  the  alle- 
giance of  millions.    When  sanitary  factory  leg- 

*Lecky, /.  c,  II,  128. 


J 


104  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

islation  was  being  agitated,  it  was  opposed  by 
the  "theologians  attributing  the  workingmen's 
ill-health  to  the  Act  of  God."  *  The  prohibition 
of  women*s  working  in  the  mines  was  brought 
about  by  philanthropists  on  moral  grounds,  but 
not  by  the  churches  on  religious  grounds.  And 
to-day  it  is  fairly  true  that  the  churches'  voices 
have  not  been  heard  very  plainly  for  reforms 
that  threaten  profits,  no  matter  how  obvious  the 
humanity  and  justice  of  the  proposed  reform 
may  be.  The  wariness  with  which  the  churches 
handle  the  evils  of  child-labor,  the  sweat-shops, 
corporational  and  political  "graft,"  and  even  (in 
{  some  cases)  of  intemperance,  has  been  too  often 
observed  by  those  who  are  not  the  churches' 
friends,  and  not  often  enough  by  those  who  are. 
In  fact,  there  are  but  two  movements  on 
which  the  churches  in  general  have  taken  a  de- 
cided stand,  temperance  and  Sunday  (miscalled 
Sabbath)  observance.  They  have  too  often  dis- 
torted the  former  by  intemperance  and  exag- 
geration. They  have  not  shown  zeal  enough  in 
the  provision  of  adequate  substitutes  for  the 
saloon,  which  has  been  hitherto  the  one  means 
of  exhilarating  sociability  the  workingmen's 
means  and  opportunities  permit.  The  working- 
men  are  also  prone  to  observe  that  the  over-con- 

•  Webb,  "Industrial  Democracy,"  356. 


\ 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  105 

sumption  of  alcohol  (their  pet  fault)  is  the  only 
over-consumption  which  receives  the  extended 
attention  of  the  pulpit.  The  reckless  and  inso- 
lent flaunting  of  ill-gotten  gains  in  the  eyes  of 
the  hungry  masses  which  characterizes  an  in- 
creasing number  of  notorious  metropolitan  social 
functions  does  not  appear  to  have  aroused  any 
great  enthusiasm  of  clerical  opposition,  as  yet.  / 

As  to  Sunday  observance,  the  people  feel  that 
if  the  churches  would  devote  as  much  energy  \ 
toward  securing  shorter  hours  and  more  half- 
holidays  during  the  week,  as  well  as  one  rest- 
day  in  seven  for  those  the  nature  of  whose  work 
permits  of  no  universal  intermission  on  one  day, 
as  they  do  to  restricting,  in  accordance  with 
obsolescent  puritanical  notions,  the  choice  of  | 
his  recreation  on  Sunday,  they  would  be  showing 
at  once  a  sounder  view  of  the  case  and  a  friend- 
lier attitude  toward  the  toilers.  The  clergy  must  \ 
sooner  or  later  recognize  that  to  provide  the  \ 
means  for  a  Sunday  afternoon  outing  to  a  work-  J 
ingman  and  his  family  is  an  "act  of  mercy."  / 
Man  was  not  made  for  the  Sabbath,  but  the  / 
Sabbath  for  the  workingman. 

For  underlying  the  churches'  failure  in  their  \ 
economic  and  social  relations  with  the  laborers  1 
is  their  ignorance  of  social  and  economic  laws.  I 
Their  charities   fail   to   work   any   permanent/ 


io6  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

good,  because  they  attack  only  the  symptoms 
and  results  and  not  the  causes  of  social  disease. 
"The  church's  social  work,"  says  one  of  its 
representatives,*  "is  directed  more  toward 
effects  than  toward  causes;  toward  personal 
action  on  the  individual  rather  than  on  social 
forces;  toward  the  spiritual  more  than  the  tem- 
poral. The  church  is  quick  and  tender  in  car- 
ing for  the  aged  poor,  yet  she  is  not  conspicuous 
in  demanding  old-age  pensions,  etc."  It  is  ex- 
actly in  this  inconspicuousness  that  the  com- 
plaint of  the  people  lies.  "A  hundred  ways  of 
service,  visitation,  and  relief,  the  advocacy  of 
temperance  and  recreation,  the  provision  of  the 
social  settlement  and  of  the  institutional  church, 
illustrate  the  expansion  of  the  work  of  religion 
into  the  sphere  of  the  social  movement.  Yet 
these  Christian  activities,  beautiful  and  fruitful 
as  they  are,  and  testifying  as  they  do  to  the  vi- 
tality of  the  Christian  religion,  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  presenting  in  themselves  a  solution  of 
the  modern  social  question."  ' 

It  is  very  encouraging  to  note  that  "the  past 
decade  has  witnessed  a  really  remarkable 
arousal  of  the  Christian  conscience  in  behalf  of 


"  Kerby,  "The  Social  Work  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Ameri- 
ca," 30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  475. 
*  Peabody,  /.  c,  29. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  107 

the  toiler,"  *  at  any  rate  among  a  few  in  the 
churches'  vanguard  of  thinkers.  This  interest 
in  the  workingmen's  movement  is  due  largely  to 
the  impetus  given  it  by  Maurice  and  Kingsley 
in  England,  renewed  a  few  years  ago  in  America 
by  the  work  of  Professors  Ely  and  Peabody.^ 
The  case  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  and  of  the  re- 
cent Pan-Anglican  Conference,  is  an  example 
of  the  growing  interest  of  the  English  churches 
in  the  social  question;  and  American  churches 
are  becoming  more  sympathetic  and  intelligent 
in  regard  to  it.  In  Germany  the  Evangelical 
Social  Congress  has  been  organized  among  the 
churches  for  the  express  purpose  of  connecting 
them  more  intimately  with  the  social  movement. 
Ideas  originating  in  the  ranks  of  labor  are  being 
voiced,  more  or  less  unconsciously,  but  none  the 
less  significantly,  from  almost  all  pulpits.  The  ! 
churches  are  beginning  to  realize  that  society  \ 
must  be  saved,  even  if  only  for  the  sake  of  the  / 
individuals  who  compose  society. 

But,  unfortunately,  the  churches  are  almost  \ 
irreparably  belated  in  their  interest  in  the  prob- 
lem; they  have  waited  so  long  that  the  work- 
ingmen  have  long  since  concluded  that  they 

*  Cochran,  /.  c,  454. 

*  Cf.  the  number  of  recent  English  works  on  this  subject  given  in 
the  Bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  volume,  with  the  list  given  by 
Peabody,  "Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question,"  67,  note. 


io8  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

could  not  be  depended  upon,  and  that  they 
were  in  fact  opposed  to  the  whole  movement. 
Take  the  labor  unions,  for  example.  They  are 
in  general,  or  were  until  very  recently,  convinced 
that  the  churches  are  hostile  to  them.  They 
have  heard  their  methods  consistently  criticised 
from  the  pulpit;  but  seldom  have  they  heard 
their  aims  or  ideals  encouraged.  The  fact  that 
one  of  their  favorite  and  most  indispensable 
methods,  that  of  mutual  insurance,  was  first 
proposed  by  a  leading  Baptist  clergyman  in 
1 8 19  does  not  help  the  matter,  for  the  church 
ignored  it.  The  hostile  criticisms  of  another 
clergyman,  in  1824,  received  far  more  attention 
and  support. 

Within  recent  years  the  Presbyterian  and 
Protestant  Episcopal  churches  in  America  have 
taken  official  notice  of  the  trades  unions,  after 
the  latter  had  been  in  prominent  existence  for 
more  than  a  century.  The  Presbyterian  Church 
has  established  a  "  Department  of  Church  and 
Labor"  for  the  special  purpose  of  the  study  of 
the  social  question.*  The  department  at  pres- 
ent seems  to  consist  of  a  superintendent,  a  com- 
petent thinker  and  an  energetic  and  successful 

•  Stelzle,  "The  Presbyterian  Department  of  Church  and  !.&' 
bor,"  ;io  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  458;  also  Stelzle,  "Christianity's  Storm 
Centre." 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  109 

worker,  who  travels  and  lectures  and  visits  labor 
unions  and  church  conferences:  a  sort  of 
"travelling  chair  of  Christian  sociology,"  as  he 
calls  himself.  He  has  established  a  system  of 
exchange  of  "fraternal  delegates"  between  some 
churches  and  unions,  and  the  result  in  every 
case  is  a  much  more  cordial  feeling  between 
them.*  Some  unions  have  even  created  the 
office  of  "chaplain,"  to  provide  a  specific  func- 
tion for  the  visiting  minister.  This  exchange 
system  has  been  formally  endorsed  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  The  depart- 
ment was  also  largely  instrumental  in  securing 
the  observance  of  "Labor  Sunday,"  which  is 
helping  to  win  again  to  the  churches  the  atten- 
tion of  the  workingmen.^ 

The  Methodist  Quadrennial  Conference  of 
1908  has  taken  specific  action  in  regard  to  the 
most  pressing  social  problems  of  to-day  by  the 
adoption  of  a  platform  which  places  that  church 
easily   in   the   forefront   of  the   socio-religious 

•  Outlook,  June  6,  1908,  "The  Presbyterian  Assembly." 

*  The  Methodist  Preachers'  Meeting  and  the  Baptist  Conference 
of  Boston  recently  took  steps  in  the  same  direction  {Mass.  Labor 
Bulletin,  No.  55,  p.  209),  and  it  is  probable  that  the  example  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  will  be  widely  imitated.  At  the  Baptist 
Convention  of  1908  a  Commission  was  appointed,  including 
Shailer  Mathews  and  C.  R.  Henderson,  to  study  and  report  to  the 
denomination  as  to  what  the  churches  are  doing  along  lines  of 
social  service  {Outlook,  June  13,  1908). 


no  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

ovement.  The  statement  reads  as  follows: 
"The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  stands: 

For  equal  rights  and  complete  justice  for  all 
men  in  all  stations  of  life. 

"For  the  principle  of  conciliation  and  arbi- 
tration in  industrial  dissensions. 

"  For  the  protection  of  the  worker  from  dan- 
gerous machinery,  occupational  diseases,  inju- 
ries, and  mortality. 

"  For  the  abolition  of  child  labor. 

"For  such  regulation  of  the  conditions  of 
labor  for  women  as  shall  safeguard  the  physical 
and  moral  health  of  the  community. 

"  For  the  suppression  of  the  *  sweating  system.* 

"  For  the  gradual  and  reasonable  reduction  of 
the  hours  of  labor  to  the  lowest  practical  point, 
with  work  for  all;  and  for  that  degree  of  leisure 
for  all  which  is  the  condition  of  the  highest 
human  life. 

"For  a  release  from  employment  one  day  in 
seven. 

"  For  a  living  wage  in  every  industry. 

"  For  the  highest  wage  that  each  industry  can 
afford,  and  for  most  equitable  division  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  industry  that  can  ultimately  be  devised. 

"  For  the  recognition  of  the  Golden  Rule,  and 
the  mind  of  Christ  as  the  supreme  law  of  society 
and  the  sure  remedy  for  all  social  ills." 


\^ 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  in 

This  comprehensive  and  unequivocal  declara- 
tion of  Christian  principles  is  a  model  of  frank- 
ness and  dignity  which  cannot  be  too  highly 
commended.  It  has  been  adopted,  with  some 
additions  (of  questionable  value),  by  the  Fed- 
eral Council  of  Churches  at  its  meeting  in  De- 
cember, 1908,  at  Philadelphia.*  When  all  the  ^ 
churches  shall  have  become  permeated  with  the 
spirit  exempHfied  in  this  platform,  and  the 
masses  of  the  people  shall  have  become  aware 
of  the  fact,  there  will  be  no  problem  of  the 
alienation  of  the  masses. 

These  recent  developments  are  encouraging; 
but  one  must  be  on  his  guard  not  to  be  misled 
by  such  statements  as  that  "the  workingmen 
are  responding  to  the  churches'  appeal,"  and 
that  "prominent  labor  leaders  are  members  of 
the  church,"  into  the  erroneous  idea  that  the 
breach  between  the  churches  and  the  wage 
earners  is  near  healing.  The  abyss  of  prejudice 
and  mutual  misunderstanding  between  them  is 
beginning  to  be  filled.  They  are  becoming  bet- 
ter acquainted  with  each  other,  and  their  mutual 
respect  is  beginning  to  grow.  But  a  gap  which 
has  been  decades  broadening  and  deepening 
cannot  be  filled  in  a  few  months  or  years. 

^Outlook,  Dec.  19,  1908,  p.  849,  "The  Social  Conscience  of 
the  Churches." 


112  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

Occasionally  the  church  has  had  to  do  with 
arbitration  in  labor  disputes,  but  in  so  small 
a  way  that  its  effect  on  the  attitude  of  the  public 
has  been  insignificant.  In  general,  it  remains 
true  that  "in  the  conflict  between  capital  and 
labor  neither  the  capitalist  nor  the  laborer  has 
any  use  for  the  minister."  ^  Sometimes  a  min- 
ister may  be  found  on  the  Australian  wage 
boards.*  The  Standing  Commission  of  Capital 
and  Labor  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
which  was  appointed  to  act  as  a  board  of  arbi- 
tration when  invited  to  do  so,  was  not  once 
called  on  during  1901-1904,  a  period  particu- 
larly marked  by  great  strikes  and  lockouts.  A 
clerical  arbitration  board  once  appealed  to  in 
Chicago  charged  such  exorbitant  fees  for  its 
services  that  both  sides  were  disgusted,  and  that 
ended  the  possibilities  of  its  usefulness  in  that 
city.  Such  experiments  cannot  be  expected  to  be 
successful  until  the  average  minister's  knowl- 
edge of  economics  and  sociology  is  far  wider 
than  it  is  now. 

The  problem  of  the  immigrant  is  assigned  by 
the  Presbyterian  Church  to  its  Department  of 
Church  and  Labor,  thus  recognizing  its  social 
bearings;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  churches'  mission- 

'  Crapsey,  /.  c,  277. 

'  Webb,  "Industrial  Democracy"  (2  ed.),  xxxviii. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  113 

ary  work  among  the  immigrants,  which  is  ex- 
tensive and  highly  organized,^  follows  along  the 
old  individualistic  and  evangelistic  lines.  The 
aim  seems  to  be  to  stem  the  tide  of  alienation, 
where  possible;  and,  faiHng  that,  to  convert  the 
Catholics  into  Protestants — ^which  helps  the 
Protestant  annual  statistics  of  membership  and 
does  not  materially  injure  the  Catholics  *.  No 
very  impressive  success  is  reported.  The  Cath- 
olics hold  the  immigrants  to  some  extent.  The 
best  work  among  them  seems  to  be  done  by  the 
institutional  churches,  which  teach  them  Eng- 
lish, find  them  employment,  act  as  a  general  in- 
formation bureau,  etc. 

^  For  details  and  statistics,  see  Grose,  "Aliens  or  Anaericans?" 


CHAPTER  IV 

GOVERNMENT 

"ITrE  cannot  close  this  part  of  our  study  wlth- 
^  '  out  a  consideration  of  the  churches'  atti- 
tude toward  politics  and  the  state.  In  the 
interpretation  of  Jesus's  teaching  on  this  as  on 
all  other  subjects  there  is  the  widest  variety  of 
opinion.  Through  all  periods  of  history  there 
have  been  some  who  have  found  the  details  of 
governmental  organization  laid  down  in  the 
gospels,  patent  to  all  except  (of  course)  those 
who  are  wilfully  blind.  Thus,  within  recent 
years  it  has  been  said  that  a  gingerly  treatment 
of  Jesus's  political  principles  is  a  sign  of  the 
degradation  of  the  pulpit.*  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  the  letter,  the  statute-book,  of  the 
J  Christian  constitution  of  society.  If  so,  govern- 
'  ment  should  be  the  primary  interest  of  the 
preacher  of  Christianity;  his  aim  must  be  to 
mould  the  constitution  of  society  into  conform- 
ity with  the  political  ideas  of  Jesus. 

It  is  tolerably  certain,    however,  that  Jesus 
was  not  interested  in  politics  in  any  more  than 

»  Herron,  "The  Christian  Society." 
114 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  115 

an  indirect  way.  His  political  theories,  if  he 
had  any,  should  be  found  illustrated  in  his  idea 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God;  but,  as  we  have  seen, 
this  idea  is  so  obscure  and  uncertain  that  it  is 
not  much  help.  Scholars  are  generally  agreed 
that  the  conception  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  was 
even  less  political  than  economic;  ^  that  Jesus 
did  not  have  in  mind  primarily  a  political  resto- 
ration. "  The  Gospel  is  not  a  bill  of  rights,  for 
the  mission  of  Christ  had  no  political  charac- 
ter," says  Nitti.^ 

Jesus  was  rarely  brought  into  direct  contact 
with  the  government  of  his  period,  and  when  he 
was,  his  attitude  was  merely  one  of  enforced 
submission  to  it.  It  does  not  appear  that  he 
had  any  of  Paul's  manifest  respect  for  the 
state;  his  ideal  of  service  was,  in  fact,  a  rever- 
sal of  the  current  state-craft;  but  there  is  no 
evidence  that  he  took  a  direct  part  in  altering  it. 
He  appears  to  have  sharply  distinguished  be- 
tween the  functions  of  religion  and  those  of  the 
state.  The  latter  was  merely  one  of  the  external 
data  with  which  the  religious  man  must  reckon, 
as  he  reckoned  with  the  forces  of  nature,  but 
which,  under  the  then  conditions,  was  as  remote 
from  his  control  as  the  tides  or  the  lightning. 

»  H.  H.  Wendt,  "Teaching  of  Jesus,"  364. 
"Nitti,  "Catholic  Socialism,"  58. 


ii6  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

But  the  recent  extension  of  the  definition  of 
religion  has  forced  it  to  include  politics  also. 
Politics  is  group  action  devoted  to  the  further- 
ance of  well-being  through  the  forms  and  activi- 
ties of  organized  government.  Political  and  re- 
ligious thought  are,  therefore,  but  forms  of  each 
other.  All  questions  of  state  are  questions  of 
religion.  "While  religion  is  more  than  politics, 
politics  is  religion.  A  church  might  better  omit 
to  apply  the  principles  of  Christ  to  everything 
else  than  to  politics."  ^  Others  not  so  radical 
agree  that  politics  is  or  should  be  a  moral  mat- 
ter, and  is,  therefore,  legitimately  for  the  church 
to  handle.  The  state  is,  by  its  nature,  grounded 
in  religion.''  It  is  the  expression  of  the  solidarity 
of  humanity,  a  solidarity  based  on  cooperation 
and  brotherhood,  and  demanding  the  religious 
concept  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  as  its  neces- 
sary foundation.'  Thus,  by  merely  broadening 
the  traditional  conception  of  religion,  govern- 
ment is  seen  to  be  part  of  it. 

The  democratization  of  government,  by  en- 
larging the  sphere  of  the  people's  moral  activi- 
ties, has,  at  the  same  time,  widened  the  sphere 

*  Crapsey,  /.  c,  300. 

*  Franz  von  Baader,  "  Ueber  die  Zeitschrift  Avenir"  (Werke, 
VI,  31),  41. 

'  Ludwig  Stein,  "Die  Soziale  Frage  im  Lichte  der  Philosophic," 
661. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  117 

of  the  preacher,  bringing  within  his  jurisdiction 
the  matters  of  government  in  which  he  and  his 
people  are  necessarily  involved.  And  further, 
inasmuch  as  legislation  is  one  of  the  most  effec- 
tive means  of  securing  certain  reforms,  the 
churches  may,  on  occasion,  have  to  champion 
legislation.  They  have  the  same  right  to  influ- 
ence the  making  and  the  enforcement  of  the  law 
that  any  other  bodies  subject  to  it  have,  and, 
when  necessary,  they  should  cooperate  with 
organized  political  influences  in  that  behalf. 
While  it  is  somewhat  of  an  exaggeration  to  say 
that  "whatever  government  the  ministers  want 
the  ministers  can  have,"  ^  still  it  is  partly  true. 
The  ministers  stand  in  a  position  where  clearness 
and  definiteness  in  their  attitude  on  political 
questions  must  be  extremely  influential;  and 
this  possible  influence  for  good  should  not  be 
wasted.  The  policy  of  restricting  their  interest 
in  city  government  to  such  matters  as  closing 
saloons  on  Sunday  is  distinctly  evil,  while  we  are 
still  subject  to  the  ravages  of  civic  corruption. 

In  the  opinion  of  many,  it  is  the  religious  duty 
of  the  churches  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics 
and  government.^    On  the  other  hand,  it  is  urged 

*  Crapsey,  /.  c,  276. 

"  Crapsey,  /.  c;  Rauschenbusch,  /.  c;  J.  R.  Commons,  "Social 
Reform  and  the  Church." 


ii8  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

that  reforms  are  not  a  matter  for  the  church, 
but  for  church  members ;  that  the  church  should 
not  become  a  power  in  poHtics,  though  the 
church  member  should.  The  church  is  not  con- 
cerned with  legislation.  The  science  or  art  of 
politics  is  quite  outside  its  jurisdiction.  It  is 
likely  to  do  more  harm  than  good  by  meddling 
in  government,  and  it  is  wiser  to  leave  politics 
alone.  ^  The  tendency  of  advancing  civilization 
is  toward  the  complete  separation  of  church  and 
state;  history  has  decided  against  their  union.^ 
As  usual,  there  is  justification  in  both  views, 
and  the  truth  seems  to  lie  between  them.  In 
our  contemplation  of  the  numerous  evils  which 
have  been  associated  with  the  activities  of  the 
church  in  the  affairs  of  government,  we  are  very 
prone  to  overlook  or  forget  the  enormous  power 
for  good  the  church  has  thus  been  enabled  to  be. 
In  the  past  "every  new  religion  has  either  cre- 
ated a  new  type  of  society,  or  transformed  the 
old."  The  Christian  Church  first  transformed 
the  religion  and  life  of  Roman  society,  and  was 
then  itself  converted  by  the  governmental  tra- 
ditions of  that  society  into  a  hierarchical  repre- 
sentative republic,  and  thus  became  responsible, 
in  an  indirect  way,  for  the  modern  democratic 

*  Shailer  Mathews,  "The  Church  and  the  Changing  Order." 

*  Lecky,  /.  c. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  ng 

conception  of  government.  The  hierarchical 
overshadowed  the  democratic  elements  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  the  rulers,  outside  the  towns, 
utilized  the  theocratic  caste  so  as,  on  the  whole, 
to  retard  the  growth  of  strength  among  the 
lower  orders  of  the  people.  But  in  the  inter- 
minable struggles  of  those  days  the  Papacy  was 
often  on  the  side  of  the  people  against  the  kings; 
and  with  its  fall  the  idea  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings  rose  unrestricted  to  its  culmination  in 
Northern  Europe.  The  Reformation,  notwith- 
standing this  effect,  was,  on  the  whole,  demo- 
cratic; for  although  its  theology  was  thoroughly 
autocratic,  it  reintroduced  in  its  organization  the 
republicanism  of  the  early  Christian  churches.^ 

Democracy  in  America  owes  much  to  the 
direct  participation  of  the  Reformation  churches 
in  politics;  as  much  credit  is  due  to  the  congre- 
gational form  of  church  government  as  to  the 
town  meeting;  and  yet  it  is  in  America  that  the 
motto:  "Religion  and  politics  have  nothing  to 
do  with  each  other,"  is  most  fully  enforced. 
The  degradation  of  "practical  politics"  is  partly 
responsible  for  this;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
aloofness  of  the  churches  is  also  partly  respon- 

*  See  Fairbairn,  Heermance,  Crapsey,  Rauschenbusch  (works 
already  cited),  and  especially  Emile  de  Laveleye,  "De  I'avenir  des 
peuples  catholiques,"  i6^. 


uo  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

sible  for  the  degradation  of  politics.  Here  the 
churches  have  utterly  failed  to  connect  the  gos- 
pel with  the  government;  here,  by  a  public 
opinion  made  up  mainly  of  indifference  on  the 
part  of  the  "decent"  public,  and  moulded 
largely  by  the  venal  newspapers  of  corrupt 
"bosses,"  the  ministers  are  most  completely 
shut  out  from  civic  influence  and  political  activ- 
ity. In  London,  where  at  times  home  politics 
and  religion  have  been  freely  "mixed,"  it  has 
been  for  the  good  of'both.  In  Jersey  City,  New 
Jersey,  under  Mayor  Fagan,  and  in  Toledo, 
Ohio,  under  "Golden  Rule"  Jones,  religion  and 
politics  were  "mixed"  to  their  great  and  mu- 
tual advantage.  The  prejudice  against  "mix- 
ing" them  seems  to  be  a  survival  from  the  days 
when  the  secular  arm  could  be  and  was  used  by 
the  church  for  purposes  of  persuasion;  but  that 
day  has  long  since  gone.  If  one  looks  now  for 
the  effects  of  the  application  of  Christianity  to 
legislation,  when  he  finds  them  at  all  he  will 
find  them  to  be  good. 

The  whole  matter  resolves  itself  into  one  of 
far-sighted  expediency.  The  churches  should 
take  a  direct  hand  in  politics  when  the  moral 
issue  is  clear  and  where  there  ought  to  be  no 
doubt  on  which  side  the  churches  stand.  S  In 
this  case  nothing  but  good  can  result,  both  to 


\: 


^\      c^      c.  \AJJ?V/A'\^  ,  Ou^ 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  121 

the  government  and  the  churches.    On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  moral  issue  is  not   clear,  or 
where  the  difference  is  one  of  policy  and  the 
right  is  fairly  distributed,  the  churches  as  relig- 
ious agencies  can  add  nothing  to  the  discussion, 
and  can  succeed  only  in  alienating  from  them- 
selves those  with  whom  they  disagree.    In  such  » 
matters,  where  it  is  not  a  clear  choice  between 
right  and  wrong,  it  is  wiser  in  most  cases  for  the 
ministers  to  refrain  from  attempting  to  mould 
public  opinion  from  the  pulpit,  no  matter  how 
expert  they  may  be  on  the  social  or  economic 
expediencies  involved.    It  is  not  necessary,  ordi- 
narily, and  it  may  injure  their  influence  in  other 
matters.     They  must  remember  that,  after  all,  A 
their  primary  concern  is  not  government  but)  \ 
righteousness;    and  that  "there  is  no  political/  J 
alchemy  by  which  you  can  get  golden  conducfi  / 
out  of  leaden  instincts."  *    Such  alchemy  musy 
be  spiritual,  if  it  exists  at  all. 

To  summarize  this  part  of  our  study:  we  have 
found  that  the  churches  have  not  been  guilty  of 
a  divergence  between  their  preaching  and  their 
practice,  except  in  the  matter  of  spiritual  and 
social  equality,  in  which  case  their  theory  was 

'  Herbert  Spencer,  "The  Coming  Slavery,"  Pop.  Set.  Mo.,  April, 
1884. 


122  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

so  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  facts  that 
variance  was  inevitable.  In  economic  relations, 
the  churches  have  believed  in  helping  the  poor 
individually,  but  not  collectively;  so  we  find 
charity  conducted  on  an  enormous  scale,  but 
seldom  are  the  chuches  seen  attempting  to  go  to- 
the  root  of  the  matter  in  social  and  economic 
conditions.  This  performance  of  their  duty  as 
the  churches  see  it  has  failed  to  touch  the 
masses  fundamentally,  however,  for  two  rea- 
sons: first,  it  has  often  been  marked  by  ineffi- 
ciency and  misdirection;  second,  k  is  felt  that 
the  churches*  theory  is  wrong — ^that  conditions 
ought  to  be  ameliorated  collectively;  that  the 
churches  should  attack  poverty  and  other  ma- 
terial evils  in  their  causes  and  not  only  in  their 
results.  And  finally,  the  churches'  old-time 
beneficent  activity  in  politics  has  been  allowed 
to  lapse,  with  the  result  that  needed  reforms 
have  felt  seriously  the  lack  of  their  support; 
and  further,  the  degradation  of  politics  as  it  is 
practised  is  charged  partly,  if  not  mainly,  to  the 
churches  having  withdrawn  from  it  and  turned 
it  over  to  the  realm  of  the  "secular." 


PART  III 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIALISM 


THE  PROBLEM 

We  turn  now  to  the  relations  of  organized 
Christianity  to  socialism,  a  point  which  we  have 
postponed  for  separate  discussion  on  account, 
first,  of  its  intrinsic  importance,  and,  second,  be- ' 
cause  there  is  at  present  an  urgent  need  of  a  J 
direct  and  plain  discussion  of  a  subject  on  which' 
there  is  so  much  loose  thinking  and  writing. 

The  burden  of  much  of  the  socio-ecclesiastical 
agitation  of  the  day  is  that  Christianity  and  so- 
cialism are  identical;  or  that  their  aims,  or,  at 
any  rate,  their  spirit,  are  the  same.  It  is,  there- 
fore, insisted  that  Christian  ministers  should  sup- 
port the  socialist  movement,  or,  at  least,  should 
be  in  sympathy  with  it.  Whereas  the  truth  is 
that  Christianity  and  socialism  are  diametrically 
opposite  in  method,  aims,  and  spirit;  that  the 
Christian  minister  not  only  cannot  support  it 
consistently,  but  cannot  even  be  in  sympathy 
with  it,  and  must  oppose  its  extension  for  the 
same  reason  that  he  opposes  the  spread  of  pure 
materialism,  or  anything  else  which  is  entirely 
incompatible  with   the  fundamental  theses  of 

125 


126  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

his  religion.  The  plausible  claims  of  socialism 
to  the  support  of  Christianity  are  based  on  a 
simple  logical  inversion,  which  will  be  discussed 
later. 

The  false  position  here  under  examination  is 
squarely  stated  in  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell's 
book,  "Christianity  and  the  Social  Order." 
"The  words  of  Jesus,"  he  says,  "may  fairly  be 
regarded  as  the  spiritual  presentation  of  the 
aims  of  modern  socialism.  Socialism  is  far 
nearer  to  original  Christianity  than  the  Chris- 
tianity of  the  churches.  The  objective  of  so- 
cialism is  that  with  which  Christianity  began 
its  history.  Socialism  is  actually  a  swing  back 
to  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of  God;  the  tra- 
ditional theology  of  the  churches  is  a  departure 
from  it."^  The  common  objective  of  Chris- 
tianity and  of  socialism  is  the  realization  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  As  it  has  been  put 
by  a  German  scholar,  Oscar  Holtzmann,' 
"there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  the  fun- 
damental ideals  of  socialism  are  to  be  referred 
back  to  Jesus";  also  by  the  Italian  Nitti:' 
"the  Christian  ideal  is  in  no  way  opposed  to  the 
socialistic  ideal." 


»  Campbell,  /.  c,  279,  19,  147,  173. 
*  Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  287. 
» Nitti,  "Catholic  Socialism,"  20. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  127 

There  are  two  facts  which,  in  the  absence  of 
adequate  explanation,  raise  a  prima  facie  case 
against  these  claims:  first,  the  most  represent- 
ative socialists  are  alienated  from  the  churches 
and  hostile  to  them  and  to  Christianity;  second, 
the  churches  are,  with  scarcely  an  exception, 
opposed  to  socialism.  This  mutual  antago- 
nism may  be  due  to  mere  misunderstanding,  or 
it  may  be  due  to  inherent  incompatibility.  But 
let  us  first  consider  the  facts. 


CHAPTER  I 

ATHEISTIC  SOCIALISM 

QOCIALISM  is  more  than  indifferent  to  spir- 
^^  itual  religion;  it  has  become  a  distinct  sub- 
stitute for  it.  Its  organizations  usually  meet  on 
Sunday,  that  being  the  only  day  of  leisure  its 
adherents  usually  have.  It  has  regularly  organ- 
ized Sunday-schools,  in  which  the  children  are 
instructed,  by  the  most  approved  methods  of 
lesson  leaves  and  catechism,  in  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  economic  creed.  Evenings  at 
the  socialist  clubs  have  taken  the  place  of  the 
old  church  meetings.  It  is  said  in  the  factories 
in  Germany:  "What  Jesus  Christ  has  been  in 
the  past,  Bebel  and  Liebknecht  will  be  in  the 
future."*  Says  Le  Rossignol:^  "In  these 
days,  when  we  have  a  psychology  without  a 
soul,  let  it  not  be  thought  strange  that  we  have 
a  religion  without  a  god.  Like  most  religions, 
socialism  has  its  prophet  and  its   book.     The 

*  Gohre,  /.  c,  112. 

'James  E.  Le  Rossignol,  "Orthodox  Socialism,"  5;  cf.  Nitti, 
/.  c,  22;  also  Yves  Guyot,  "La  com^die  socialiste,"  for  humorous 
account  of  socialist  parties,  "Pope,"  etc.  Guyot  himself  displays 
all  the  graces  (  ?)  of  theological  controversy. 

128 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  129 

prophet  is  Karl  Marx;  the  book  is  'Capital.* 
Like  all  religions  it  has  its  creed,  which  the 
orthodox  hold  with  the  utmost  dogmatism  and 
intolerance."  This  attitude  can  have  but  one 
meaning:  "The  acceptance  of  social  revolution 
as  a  religion  is  a  practical  indictment  of  the  re- 
ligious teaching  of  the  Christian  church."  ^ 
A  man  can  have  but  one  religion  at  a  time. 

Although  socialist  programmes  usually  insist 
that  "  Religion  is  a  private  matter,"  ^  their  most 
representative  leaders  have  not  hesitated  to  give 
frequent  public  utterance  to  their  views  on  the 
subject.  These  expressions,  in  the  absence  of 
refutation  by  leaders  at  least  as  authoritative, 
must  be  taken  as  representative  of  the  attitude 
of  the  party,  "99  per  cent,  of  which,"  says 
Morris  Hilquit,'  *'is  agnostic." 

Although  Karl  Marx,  in  his  "Capital,"  is 
rather  guarded  in  his  expressions  on  religion,  it 
is  evident  he  regarded  it  as  an  illusion,  growing 

'  Peabody,  I.  c,  298. 

'  That  socialists  themselves  admit  this  expression  to  be  an  eva- 
sion is  evidenced  by  the  discussion  at  the  Convention  of  the  Amer- 
ican Socialist  Party  at  Chicago,  in  1908,  at  which  the  expression  was 
rejected  from  the  Platform.  A  delegate  said  {Chicago  Daily  So- 
cialist, May  16,  1908):  "Religion  is  a  sociological  question,  an  an- 
thropological question,  a  question  of  chronology,  of  economics,  of 
theosophy.  There  are  few  forms  of  modem  thought  that  do  not 
directly  affect  the  question  of  religion,  and  when  you  say  that  it  is 
merely  a  question  of  the  private  conscience,  you  fly  in  the  face  of 
the  science  and  learning  of  your  day." 

^  Chicago  Daily  Socialist,  May  16,  1908. 


130  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

out  of  humanity's  failure  to  comprehend  rela- 
tions which  are  socially  irrational  and  therefore 
logically  incomprehensible.  He  says:*  "The 
religious  reflex  of  the  real  world  can,  in  any 
case,  only  then  finally  vanish  when  the  practical 
relations  of  every-day  life  ofi^er  to  man  none  but 
perfectly  intelligible  and  reasonable  relations 
with  regard  to  his  fellow-men  and  to  Nature." 
August  Bebel  insists  that  there  is  no  use  in  hav- 
ing any  religion  at  all.  "The  revolution,"  he 
says,*  "differs  from  its  predecessors  in  this, 
that  it  does  not  seek  for  new  forms  of  religion; 
it  denies  religion  altogether."  It  has  no  need 
for  any  of  the  ceremonies  and  symbols  of  relig- 
ious organization.  Mr.  E.  Belfort  Bax,  prob- 
ably the  most  brilliant  of  the  thorough-going 
English  socialists,  says,^  "  the  Positivist  seeks  to 
retain  the  forms  after  the  beliefs  of  which  they 
are  the  expression  have  lost  all  meaning  for 
him.  The  socialist  whose  social  creed  is  his 
only  religion  requires  no  travesty  of  Christian 
rites  to  aid  him  in  keeping  his  ideal  before 
him." 

In  the  socialist  mind,  "Science  analyzes  God 
like  any  other  natural  phenomenon,"  according 


Marx,  "Capital"  (Eng.  Tr.,  Humboldt  Pub.  Co.),  33. 

Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  16. 

Bax,  "The  Religion  of  Socialism,"  52. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  131 

to  Yves  Guyot/  a  representative  of  the  radical 
French  school.  "God  is  simply  a  psychological 
phenomenon.  Instead  of  God  having  created 
man,  it  is  man  who  has  created  God.  Religion 
is  insanity."  The  atheism  of  socialism  was  rec- 
ognized even  by  the  "Christian  Socialist,"  Pas- 
tor Todt,  who  thought  that,  with  that  exception, 
it  was  in  conformity  with  the  Gospel.^  It  is 
taken  for  granted  by  Bebel,  although  he  main- 
tains that  it  is  not  the  product  of  socialism,  but 
of  the  entire  thought  of  the  nineteenth  century.' 
"The  socialist  ideal  will  cease  to  have  for  its 
object  God  and  another  world,  and  be  brought 
back  to  its  original  sphere  of  social  life  and  this 
world."  *  There  is  a  necessary  conflict  between 
civilization  based  on  law  and  that  based  on 
religion.^ 

The  religion  of  Jesus,  according  to  more  mod- 
erate socialists,  has  been  completely  perverted 
from  its  original  intention,  and  the  church,  in- 
stead of  being  the  poor  man's  institution,  has 
become  the  exclusive  property  and  support  of 

*  Guyot,  "Etudes  sur  les  doctrines  sociales  du  christianisme" 
(3d  ed.,  1892),  xliii,  12,  20.  This  book  displays  throughout  the 
most  intense  and  partisan  bitterness  toward  religion. 

*  Peabody,  /.  c,  61;  F.  Mehring,  "Geschichte  der  deutschen 
Sozialdemokratie,"  2ter  Auf.,  2ter  T.,  2ter  Abt.,  131. 

*  Cited  in  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  194;  cf.,  on  circumstances  which 
inevitably  gave  socialism  an  atheistic  turn,  Mehring,  I.  c,  1 28. 

*  Bax,  /.  c,  36. 

*  Guyot,  /.  c,  V. 


132  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

capitalism.  Thus  De  Laveleye  says:*  "By  a 
complete  misapplication  of  its  ideas,  the  religion 
of  Christ,  transformed  into  a  temporal  and  sacer- 
dotal institution,  has  been  called  in,  as  the  ally 
of  caste,  despotism,  and  the  ancient  regime,  to 
sanction  all  social  inequalities." 

But  this  charitable  attitude  does  not  long  per- 
sist. This  "misapplication"  is  soon  identified 
with  original  Christianity,  and  then  "social  de- 
mocracy turns  against  Christ  and  the  church 
because  it  sees  in  them  only  a  means  of  provid- 
ing a  religious  foundation  for  the  existing  eco- 
nomic order,"  as  Naumann  puts  it.'^ 

Our  quotations  in  the  last  paragraph  have 
come  from  "Christian"  socialists — men  who  are 
much  better  Christians  than  socialists.  More 
genuinely  socialist  characterizations  are  these: 
"Christianity  and  capitaHsm;  the  two  curses  of 
our  time."  "  The  cross,  once  the  symbol  of  civi- 
lization, is  now  the  symbol  of  slavery." '  Bax 
writes :  *  "  The  theology  they  (the  socialists) 
detest  is  so  closely  entwined  with  the  current 
mode  of  production  that  the  two  must  stand  or 
fall  together."  Or,  more  fully,  "The  religious 
aspect   of  capitalistic   civilization   is   dogmatic 

*  De  Laveleye,  "L'avenir  religieux  des  peuples  civilises,"  25. 

*  Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  17. 
^  Cited  in  Kaufmann,  I.  c,  3. 

*  Bax,  /.  c,  81,  77. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  133 

Protestantism.  The  Reformation  which  began 
among  the  middle  classes  has  continued,  gener- 
ally speaking,  to  coincide  with  them.  The  pre- 
dominantly commercial  states  of  Christendom 
are  the  predominantly  Protestant  ones,  while 
even  in  Catholic  countries  the  main  strength  of 
the  Protestant  minority  lies  in  the  trading 
classes.  The  religious  creed  of  the  capitalist 
bourgeoisie  is  dogma,  minus  sacerdotalism. 
The  religious  creed  of  the  land-owning  aristoc- 
racy is  sacerdotalism,  with  a  nominal  adhesion 
to  dogma.  The  watchword  of  the  one  is,  an  in- 
fallible church;  the  standard  of  the  other,  an  in- 
fallible Bible.  The  Romish  or  High-Anglican 
squire  represents  incarnate  land,  on  its  religious 
side;  the  Baptist  haberdasher,  incarnate  capi- 
talism." This  is  not  intended  for  mere  face- 
tiousness,  but  for  serious  reasoning — ^which  is 
our  justification  for  quoting  it  at  length.  "  Chris- 
tianity is  the  religion  of  private  property  and  of 
the  respectable  classes,"  says  Liebknecht.^ 
"Christianity  as  seen  in  this  country,"  says 
Hyndman,  an  Englishman,^  "is  merely  the 
chloroform  agency  of  the  confiscating  classes. 
Consequently  the  workmen  are  daily  turning 
more  and  more  against  its  professors."     "In 

*  Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  19. 

*  Letter  in  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  223. 


134  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

Protestantism,"  says  Bax/  "the  supremacy  of 
individualism  in  religion,  its  antagonism  to  the 
old  social  religions,  reaches  its  highest  point  of 
development.  Protestantism  is  the  middle  class 
version  of  Christianity;  Puritanism,  the  insular 
commentary  on  this  version.  The  working 
classes  see  plainly  enough  that  Christianity,  in 
all  its  forms,  belongs  to  the  world  of  the  past 
and  the  present,  but  not  to  the  world  of  the 
future  which  signifies  their  emancipation." 

This  opposition  to  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity is  carried  further  into  a  desire  to  sup- 
press every  manifestation  of  them,  and  is  ex- 
pressed in  terms  which  savor  of  blind  hatred 
and  utter  scorn.  Benoit  Malon,  one  of  the 
leaders  of  French  socialism,  writes:''  "To  sup- 
press religion  which  promises  an  illusory  hap- 
piness is  to  establish  the  claims  of  real  happiness, 
for  to  demonstrate  the  non-existence  of  these 
illusions  tends  toward  suppressing  a  state  of 
things  which  requires  illusions  for  maintaining 
its  own  existence."  Says  Engels:'  "The  first 
word  of  religion  is  a  lie."  Marx  is  reported  *  as 
saying:  "The  idea  of  God  must  be  destroyed; 
it  is  the  keystone  of  a  perverted  civilization. 

•  Bax,  I.  c,  28,  56,  99. 

'  In  "Nouveau  parti,"  Vol.  I,  p.  34. 
'  Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  16. 

*  In  Pall  Mall  Magazine,  Vol.  V,  p.  680,  note. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  135 

The  true  root  of  liberty,  of  equality,  of  culture, 
is  atheism."  "It  is  useless  blinking  the  fact," 
says  Bax,^  "that  the  Christian  doctrine  is  more 
revolting  to  the  highest  moral  sense  of  to-day 
than  the  Saturnalia  of  the  cult  of  Proserpina 
could  have  been  to  the  conscience  of  the  early 
Christians." 

"  Religion  is  a  staple  ingredient  of  bourgeois 
family  life  in  this  country  (England).  It  con- 
stitutes the  chief  amusement  of  the  women  of  the 
family.  In  contemporary  British  social  life  the 
church  or  chapel  is  the  rendezvous  or  general 
club  for  both  sexes;  a  marriage  bureau ;  a  fash- 
ionable lounge."  ^  A  tone  like  this  must  be  en- 
couraging to  those  who  would  identify  socialism 
and  Christianity.  "A  child  or  person  intellec- 
tually incapable,  either  naturally  or  through  ig- 
norance, or  both,  comes  under  the  influence  of 
the  Salvation  Army  or  the  worst  kind  of  Catholic 
priest,  it  matters  not  which,  is  terrified  by  threats 
of  the  wrath  of  God  into  'conversion,*  becomes 
the  slave  of  General  Booth  or  the  *  Church,'  is 
warped  morally  and  mentally  for  life,  and  in  the 
worst  case  possibly  driven  to  religious  mania."  ' 
This  inevitably  suggests  the  possibility  of  com- 
bining Christian  and  socialist  Sunday-schools. 
Socialism  "utterly  despises  the  'other  world' 

^  Ibid.  *  Bax, /.  c,  140.  ^  Ibid.   114. 


136  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

with  all  is  stage  properties — that  is,  the  present 
objects  of  religion."  ^  The  churches'  attitude 
toward  the  world  is  fundamentally  wrong  and 
has  led  inexorably  to  their  failure.  Thus  Her- 
ron,*  an  American:  "The  collective  attitude  of 
the  Church  toward  God  and  his  world  is  pre- 
cisely the  attitude  of  the  Pharisees  and  Saddu- 
cees  that  wrought  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish 
church  and  nation  in  the  day  of  its  visitation." 
"The  success  of  Christianity  as  a  moral  force," 
adds  Bax,'  "has  been  solely  upon  isolated  indi- 
viduals. In  its  effect  upon  society  at  large  it 
has  signally  and  necessarily  failed." 

That  the  socialists  are  always  unfair  to  the 
social  efforts  of  clergymen  is  notorious.  In  Ger- 
many the  ministers  are  referred  to  as  the 
"spiritual  police,"  the  "black  dragoons,"  etc., 
and  everything  they  propose  or  advocate  is  sus- 
pected and  affirmed  to  be  in  the  interests  of  the 
capitalistic  class.  One  of  the  main  reasons  for 
the  weakness  of  Stocker's  influence  is  simply 
the  fact  that  he  is  a  Protestant  clergyman.  In 
France  the  feeling  is  the  same  now  as  when, 
during  the  great  Revolution,  a  thoughtful  pro- 
posal of  the  Abbe  Sieyes  was  defeated  merely 
because  it  emanated  from  a  priest.    In  England 

>  Bax,  I.  c,  52.  *  Herron,  "The  Christian  Society,"  62. 

'  Bax,  /.  c,  98. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  137 

and  in  America  the  clergy  have  been  the  subject 
of  constant  villification  at  the  hands  of  sociaHsts 
until  recently.  Now,  in  view  of  the  possibility  of 
enlisting  some  of  the  clergy  in  active  propaganda 
work,  the  official  tone  of  socialism  is  somewhat 
moderating. 

It  is  being  said,  for  example,  that  the  past 
utterances  of  the  revolutionary  party  do  not  im- 
ply any  disrespect  for  Christianity,  but  only  for 
"churchianity."  The  workingmen,  it  is  said, 
have  great  reverence  for  Christ,  even  though 
sometimes  combined  with  disrespect  for  the 
churches.  "One  thing  alone  is  left  them — re- 
spect and  reverence  for  Jesus  Christ."  John 
Spargo,  perhaps  the  leading  American  socialist, 
gave  utterance  to  this  new  attitude  at  the  "  Sag- 
amore Conference"  in  1908.  The  opposition  of 
socialists,  he  said,  is  not  to  Christianity,  but  to 
the  churches'  infidelity  to  the  teachings  of  Christ. 
"The  churches  now  are  swinging  back  to  relig- 
ion and  away  from  theology.  They  are  com- 
ing to  attach  far  more  importance  to  man's 
deeds  than  to  his  beliefs."  But  it  is  extremely 
difficult  for  a  socialist  to  maintain  this  concil- 
iatory strain  very  long.  Mr.  Spargo  continued: 
"Yet  it  is  still  true  that,  among  the  prominent 
'Christians'  in  every  city,  will  be  found  many 
of  the  worst  exploiters  of  labor,  owners  of  man- 


138  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

killing  tenements,  corrupters  of  legislatures,  and 
leaders  of  political  machines  that  traffic  in  votes 
and  draw  tributes  from  gambling  hells  and 
brothels." 

Jesus,  say  these  harmonizers,  would  have  been 
a  socialist  if  he  were  living  to-day.*  And  herein 
lies  a  key  to  an  understanding  of  this  situation, 
in  so  far  as  the  attempt  at  "harmony"  is  sin- 
cere. The  socialists  have  a  reverence  for  the 
Christ  who  would  have  been  a  socialist  if  living 
to-day;  but  that  is  not  the  Christ  of  history,  and 
most  socialists  know  it,  and  are  consequently 
utterly  devoid  of  the  respect  with  which  they  are 
fondly  credited  by  enthusiastic  evangelists  and 
unobservant  men  of  the  study.  That  there  are 
individual  socialists  who  are  religious  is,  of 
course,  indisputable;  but  the  attitude  of  the 
movement  as  a  whole  is  unquestionably  anti- 
religious.  Robert  Hunter  said  recently :  "^  "  There 
is  a  church  in  this  country  which  is  going  more 
and  more  to  attack  socialism  along  this  line  (the 
religious),  and  I  do  not  want  to  have  to  discuss 
it."  The  reason  for  this  diffidence  is  not  far  to 
seek. 

The  whole  socialist  attitude  is  admirably 
summed  up  in  these  words  quoted  by  Kauf- 

'  Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  65. 

■  Chicago  Daily  Socialist,  May  16,  1908. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  139 

mann  ^  from  an  anonymous  pamphlet:  "I  can- 
not agree  with  you  in  the  view  you  take  that 
Christianity  and  socialism  are  the  same  thing, 
Christianity  and  socialism  are  opposed  to  each 
other  as  fire  and  water.  The  so-called  good 
kernel  in  Christianity,  which  you,  not  I,  dis- 
cover in  it,  is  not  Christian,  but  merely  human, 
and  the  peculiarity  of  Christianity,  the  bulk  of 
its  dogmas  and  doctrines,  is  inimical  to  hu- 
manity.** 

'  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  i6o. 


CHAPTER  II 

"CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM" 

A  S  for  the  attitude  of  the  churches  toward  so- 
■^  ^  cialism,  its  unfriendliness,  proclaimed  from 
the  housetops  by  the  out-and-out  socialists,  is 
admitted  even  by  the  "Christian  socialists." 
In  France  and  in  Belgium  the  Catholic  social 
movement  is  the  bitter  enemy  of  socialism. 
"The  great  contest  of  the  end  of  the  century," 
said  the  secretary  of  a  Belgian  Catholic  workers' 
congress,  "will  be  between  Catholicism  and  so- 
cialism," Pope  Leo  XIII,  in  his  famous  Encyc- 
lical, has  committed  the  Catholic  Church 
against  it.  In  England  the  High-Anglicans 
have  had  little  to  do  with  socialism,  and  the  free 
churches  even  less.  In  America  few  churches 
have  as  yet  awakened  to  the  fact  of  its  existence. 
Prominent  ministers  can  be  found  in  every  city, 
S.T.B.*s  and  D.D.'s,  who  have  not  the  faint- 
est idea  what  socialism  really  is.  "In  every 
country,"  according  to  Mr.  Campbell,*  "it  is 
the  same  story:  the  churches  are  one  thing,  the 

'  Campbell,  /.  c,  19. 

140 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  141 

socialist  movement  is  another;  despite  individ- 
ual instances  of  clerical  socialism,  official  Chris- 
tianity is  not  only  quite  distinct  from  socialism; 
the  two  are  antagonistic." 

The  "individual  instances'*  to  which  Mr. 
Campbell  refers  are  probably  those  Hke  Maurice 
and  Kingsley,  Von  Ketteler,  Huber,  and  the 
rest,  who  originated  the  "Christian  socialist" 
movement.  For  our  purposes  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  go  into  the  history  of  this  interesting  de- 
velopment; ^  but  one  aspect  of  it  is  of  great  sig- 
nificance to  us:  the  hostility  between  it  and 
real  socialism.  In  Germany  and  in  France 
"Christian  socialism"  was  met  by  the  fanatical 
hatred  of  the  materialistic  socialists.  It  works 
against  the  undisguised  contempt  of  the  Social 
Democracy  and  the  Socialist  Party.  Its  incep- 
tion was  accompanied  by  the  rise  of  a  radical 
development  of  anarchical  socialism.  In  Eng- 
land and  America  also  it  has  been  opposed  by 
the  genuine  socialists. 

There  are  two  reasons  for  this.  In  the  first 
place,  "Christian  socialism"  is  not  socialism  at 
all,  but  merely  a  system  of  voluntary  coopera- 
tion, with  or  without  clerical  supervision.    The 

'The  best  work  on  this  subject  is  still  Kaufmann,  "Christian 
Socialism."  See  also  Nitti,  "Catholic  Socialism";  Ely,  "French 
and  German  Socialism,"  245;  Peabody,  I.  c,  21;  Arthur  V. 
Woodworth,  "  Christian  Socialism  in  England." 


142  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

Catholic  "Christian  socialists'*  in  Germany, 
France  and  Belgium  propose  to  improve  in- 
dustrial conditions  by  placing  them  under  the 
direct  management  of  the  church.  Protestant 
"Christian  socialism"  proposes  merely  the 
more  consistent  application  of  Christian  ethics 
to  the  conduct  of  business.  In  neither  case  is 
there  a  very  definite  economic  program.  There 
are  wide  varieties  of  opinion  among  "Christian 
socialists"  as  to  what  they  really  expect  to  do, 
and  their  utterances  on  the  subject  are  extremely 
vague.  The  only  real  economist  they  have  ever 
claimed  is  Adolph  Wagner,  of  the  University  of 
Berlin;  and  his  affiliation  with  them  is  ex- 
tremely tenuous. 

The  nearest  approach  to  an  economic  princi- 
ple behind  the  English  school  of  Maurice  and 
Kingsley  is  the  conviction  of  the  unchristian 
character  of  the  prevailing  economic  system. 
It  deplores  the  evil  results  of  competition,  and 
would  improve  the  present  system  by  legal  re- 
striction and  regulation,  or  by  the  introduction 
of  wider  cooperation,  but  would  not  abolish  it. 
The  movement  in  England  did,  in  fact,  finally 
go  oflF  into  cooperation  of  the  Rochdale  kind.^ 
Kaufmann  says  that  in  Germany  the  "Chris- 
tian   Social    Party"   would   better  have    been 

*  Vansittart  Neale,  in  Ely, "  French  and  German  Socialism,"  352. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  143 

called  "The  Defenders  of  Society  on  Church 
and  State  Principles."  According  to  Mehring, 
the  historian  of  the  German  Social  Democracy, 
Christian  socialism  was  bound  to  fail  because  it 
aimed,  not  at  a  normal  evolution  in  the  modern 
capitalistic  process,  but  rather  at  a  reversion 
to  a  feudal-patriarchal  system. 

All  this,  of  course,  has  nothing  to  do  with  "or- 
thodox'* socialism.  The  cardinal  tenets  of  sci- 
entific socialism  are  these  :^  public  ownership 
and  control  of  the  means  of  production,  and 
common  control  of  distribution,  submission  to 
both  of  which  must  be  compulsory.  Here  is  a 
very  definite  and  tangible  program,  backed  up 
by  an  extremely  ingenious  economic  analysis 
which  has  been  worked  out  by  some  of  the  keen- 
est thinkers  the  world  has  produced.^  "The 
system  of  doctrines  worked  out  by  Marx,"  said 
a  professor  at  the  University  of  Chicago,'  "is 
characterized  by  a  certain  boldness  of  concep- 
tion  and   a  great  logical  consistency."     It  is 

'  The  chief  source  is,  of  course,  Karl  Marx,  "  Capital."  A  good 
study  based  on  this  is  J.  E.  Le  Rossignol,  "Orthodox  Socialism." 
The  best  presentation,  for  Americans,  from  a  socialist,  is  John 
Spargo,  "Socialism";  from  an  "orthodox"  economist,  R.  T.  Ely, 
"Socialism  and  Social  Reform." 

'Ely,  "F.  and  G.  Socialism,"  chapters  on  Rodbertus,  Marx, 
Lassalle. 

'  Veblen,  "The  Socialist  Economics  of  Karl  Marx,  "Quar.  Jour. 
Ec.,  Vol.  XX,  p.  575.  Mr  Veblen  is  now  (1909)  at  Leland  Stan- 
ford University. 


144  THE  CHURCHES 

quite  a  different  thing,  indeed,  from  the  tenta- 
tiveness  and  vagueness  of  "Christian  socialism." 
The  second,  and  fundamental,  reason  for  the 
hostility  between  Christian  and  orthodox  social- 
ism is  simply  the  fact  that  the  former,  in  its  best 
estate,  is  religious  and  the  latter  is  not.  Chris- 
tian "socialism"  insists  on  the  infusion  of  a  new 
spiritual  influence;  it  relies  on  self-effacement 
and  self-denial  rather  than  on  self-assertion  and 
self-seeking.  It  insists,  especially  on  the  Conti- 
nent, in  maintaining  a  connection  between  in- 
dustry and  the  church.  And  the  wiser  "Chris- 
tian socialists,"  like  Perin,*  know  that  there  can 
be  no  lasting  union  of  the  materialistic  economic 
program  of  Marx  and  his  followers  with  the 
spiritual  influence  of  Jesus.  "Those  doctrines 
which  pretend  to  free  mankind  from  the  service 
of  God  (du  joug  divin)  lead  it  to  slavery  and 
misery."  ^ 

'Charles  H.  X.  P6rin,  "Doctrines  ^conomiques  depuis  un 
sfecle,"  especially  chapter  xii.  Cf.  also  P6rin,  "Les  lois  de  la 
society  chrdtienne,  I,  458,  sqq. 

'P&in,  "Doctrines  dconomiques,"  208. 


CHAPTER  III 

INHERENT  INCOMPATIBILITIES 

TX7E  find  in  the  failure  of  " Christian  social- 
*  *  ism"  a  hint  as  to  the  source  of  the  mutual 
antagonism  between  the  churches  and  the 
socialists.  There  is  a  fundamental  difference 
between  Christianity  as  taught  by  Christ  and 
orthodox  socialism.  We  will  now  proceed  to  a 
study  of  this  difference. 

I.  Early  Christianity  and  Socialism 

In  the  first  place,  was  Jesus  a  socialist? 
Renan  said  that  "  in  one  view  Jesus  was  an  an- 
archist." ^  Later  he  adds,  Jesus*s  conception 
of  the  world  was  "  socialist  with  a  Galilean  col- 
oring." Unless  it  was  the  Galilean  coloring 
which  converted  his  anarchism  into  socialism, 
both  these  statements  cannot  possibly  be  true. 

To  find  any  economics  at  all,  to  say  nothing 
of  socialist  economics,  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
we  should  have  to  revise  radically  the  current 
definition  of  the  term.    Naumann  says : '   "  Je- 

*  Cited  in  Peabody,  /.  c,  58.  » Ibid.,  62. 

MS 


146  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

sus  was,  on  moral  grounds,  a  radical  enemy  of 
capital."  If  the  accuracy  of  this  view  were 
granted — ^which  it  cannot  be  by  any  sound  exe- 
gesis^— ^that  fact  alone  would  not  prove  him  a 
socialist  in  the  scientific  sense,  although  it  would 
accord  well  with  the  popular  socialist  concep- 
tion of  socialism.  Nor  is  Luke  necessarily 
"frankly  socialistic"  ^  in  his  way  of  presenting 
Jesus's  words:  "Blessed  are  ye  that  hunger 
now,  for  ye  shall  be  filled;  Blessed  are  ye  poor, 
for  yours  is  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Socialism 
is  not  enmity  to  the  rich  and  sympathy  for  the 
poor;  it  is  a  scheme  of  production  and  distri- 
bution. Jesus  was  not  a  socialist;  and  the  state- 
ment of  Bax,  that  the  "introspective  and  sub- 
jective teaching  of  Jesus  and  of  Christianity  is 
anti-socialistic"^  is  far  nearer  the  truth  than 
the  rash  claims  so  often  put  forth  by  ardent 
propagandists  and  zealous  harmonizers.  As 
Professor  Peabody  puts  it:  *  "the  supreme  con- 
cern of  Jesus  was  not  the  reorganization  of 
human  society,  but  the  disclosure  to  the  human 
soul  of  its  relation  to  God.  Instead  of  regener- 
ation by  organization,  Jesus  offers  regeneration 
by  inspiration." 

It  is  said,  however,  that  the  churches  should 

•  Ante,  p.  66.  '  Campbell,  /.  c,  77. 

•  Bax,  I.  c,  96.  *  Peabody,  /.  c,  77,  90. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  147 

favor  the  tendency  to  communism,  because 
communism  was  the  early  Christian  policy.*  It 
is  the  consensus  of  opinion,  however,  of  con- 
servatives and  radicals  alike,  that  communism 
has  no  justification  in  the  Scriptures;  ^  that 
community  of  life  but  not  of  goods  was  the  pre- 
cept and  practice  in  the  early  church.  It  is 
certain  that  there  was  none  of  the  modern  eco- 
nomic theory  behind  its  communism,  as  even 
Mr.  Campbell  admits.' 

Communism  under  religious  auspices  has 
been  tried  in  every  century,  including  the  nine- 
teenth, and  has  failed  utterly  as  a  solution  of 
the  social  question.*  And  the  real  socialists 
are  the  first  to  insist  that  religious  communism 
has  nothing  in  common  with  their  economic  pro- 
posals; *  so  that  the  theory  and  practice  of  the 
churches  on  this  point  have  nothing  to  do  with 
our  present  subject. 

*  Rauschenbusch,  /.  c,  388. 

'  Peabody,  /.  c,  23,  and  Bibliography,  26,  note. 
'  Campbell,  /.  c,  113,  176;  Crapsey,  /.  c,  129. 

*  For  sympathetic  study,  see  William  A.  Hinds,  "American 
Communities";  John  H.  Noyes,  "History  of  American  Social- 
isms"; Charles  Nordhoff,  "Communistic  Societies  of  the  United 
States." 

*  Karl  Kautsky,  "Die  Vorlaiifer  des  Neueren  Sozialismus"; 
Karl  Hugo,  Anhang  zu  "Die  Vorlaiifer,  etc." 


148  THE  CHURCHES  AND 


2.  Aims 

"The  aims  of  socialism,"  says  Mr.  Camp- 
bell/ "are  Christian  because  they  insist  on  the 
desirability  of  getting  together  instead  of 
keeping  apart,  on  mutual  helpfulness  instead  of 
mutual  hindrance."  This  is  excellent  Chris- 
tianity, but  very  poor  socialism.  Christianity 
has  always  opposed  separative  forces,  and  that 
is  just  one  of  the  reasons  why  socialism  cannot 
tolerate  it.  "The  first  lesson  in  the  catechism 
of  industrial  revolution  is  a  lesson  in  class  ha- 
tred." ^  "The  twin  passions  of  love  and  hate 
supply  the  motive  power" '  in  |the  socialist  re- 
ligion. An  essential  feature  of  the  socialist  phi- 
losophy of  history  is  the  inevitable  antagonism 
between  the  capitalistic  and  the  laboring  classes, 
a  gulf  which  nothing  can  bridge,  and  which  can 
be  closed  only  by  a  cataclysmic  revolution. 
"Along  with  the  constantly  diminishing  num- 
ber of  the  magnates  of  capital,"  writes  the  high- 
priest  Marx,  "who  usurp  and  monopolize  all 
advantages  of  this  process  of  transformation, 
grows  the  mass  of  misery,  oppression,  slavery, 
degradation,  exploitation;    but  with  this,  too, 

•  Campbell,  /.  c,  151.  '  Peabody,  /.  c,  306. 

*  Le  Rossignol,  "  Orthodox  Socialism,"  6. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  149 

grows  the  revolt  of  the  working  class,  a  class 
always  increasing  in  numbers,  and  disciplined, 
united,  organized  by  the  very  mechanism  of  the 
process  of  capitalist  production  itself.  The 
monopoly  of  capital  becomes  a  fetter  upon  the 
mode  of  production,  which  has  sprung  up  and 
flourished  along  with  and  under  it.  Central- 
ization of  the  means  of  production  and  social- 
ization of  labor  at  last  reach  a  point  where  they 
become  incompatible  with  their  capitalist  in- 
tegument. This  integument  is  burst  asunder. 
The  knell  of  capitalist  private  property  sounds. 
The  expropriators  are  expropriated."  ^ 

Occasionally  a  radical  socialist,  representing 
but  a  small  minority  of  the  party,  but  in  per- 
fectly good  standing  with  it,  will  give  voice  to  a 
faith  in  physical  force  which  verges  on  terroris- 
tic anarchism.  Thus  Mr.  Hyndman  writes : ' 
"Chemistry  has  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
desperate  and  needy  cheap  and  powerful  explo- 
sives, the  full  effects  of  which  are  as  yet  unknown. 
Every  day  adds  new  discoveries  in  this  field; 
the  dynamite  of  ideas  is  accompanied  in  the 
background  by  the  dynamite  of  physical  force. 
These  modern  explosives  may  easily  prove  to 

» Marx,  "Capital,"  487. 

*  Henry  M.  Hyndman,  "The  Historical  Basis  of  Socialism  in 
England,"  443. 


ISO  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

capitalism  what  gunpowder  was  to  feudalism." 
This  is  "getting  together"  with  a  vengeance! 

The  aim  of  Christianity  is  essentially  different 
from  that  of  socialism.  The  former  is  idealistic; 
the  latter  materialistic.  "  Seek  ye  first  his  king- 
dom and  his  righteousness,"  the  cardinal  prin- 
ciple of  Christianity,  is  contemptuously  referred 
to  by  Bax  *  as  "the  dreamy  introspection  of  a 
Syrian  mystic."  The  socialist  aims  at  material- 
istic satisfaction,  the  Christian  at  spiritual  per- 
fection. It  is  not  true,  as  so  often  asserted  by 
socialists,  that  Christianity  is  exclusively  a  re- 
ligion of  individual  salvation  and  of  the  other 
world.  It  is  a  religion  intended  for  us  who 
happen  to  live  in  this  world,  and  it  recognizes 
that  a  "salvation  by  character"  must  neces- 
sarily be,  from  one  point  of  view,  social.  But 
the  essential  point  is  that  Christianity  proposes 
a  salvation,  an  ideal  end,  and  not  a  mere  redis- 
tribution of  goods  or  of  opportunity  for  com- 
mercial or  industrial  advancement.  Socialism 
may  ultimately  become  a  question  of  the  equi- 
table distribution  of  ideal  goods,  the  means  of 
higher  culture  as  the  results  of  a  better  civiliza- 
tion; but  that  is  only  an  incident,  a  remote  hope. 

The  ends  immediately  proposed  by  socialism 
are  very  far  indeed  from  being  idealistic:    at 

'  Bax,  /.  c,  175. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  151 

present  it  is  admittedly  a  "stomach  question." 
The  immediate  aim  of  socialism  is  economic; 
that  of  religion  is  spiritual. 

3.  Methods 

There  is  also  a  fundamental  difference  of 
method.  Socialism  proposes  an  external  revo- 
lution in  the  form  of  society  and  the  mechanism 
of  industry;  Christianity  proposes  an  internal 
reformation  and  the  reform  of  society  by  or- 
ganic evolution.  In  the  Christian  view  the 
essential  thing  for  a  good  government  is  the 
worth  of  the  individuals  administering  it;  so- 
cialism says  that  the  essential  thing  for  the  indi- 
vidual is  the  nature  of  his  government.  Mr. 
Campbell  says:  ^  "Jesus  denied  that  there 
could  be  such  a  thing  as  an  individualist  right- 
eousness, a  righteousness  entirely  between  man 
and  God,  and  not  between  man  and  man." 
This  is  true  so  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  is  only  half 
true,  and  is  not  squarely  to  the  point.  "The 
social  teaching  of  Jesus  is  this:  that  the  social 
order  is  not  a  product  of  mechanism  but  of  per- 
sonality, and  that  personality  fulfils  itself  only 
in  the  social  order."  ^  This  is  the  doctrine 
which  the  thorough-going  socialist  attacks. 
Bax  says  that  the  Christian  doctrine  that  all 

*  Campbell,  /.  c,  123.  '  Peabody,  /.  c,  102. 


152  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

change  must  come  from  the  individual,  that  re- 
form must  come  from  within,  is  "  in  striking  de- 
fiance of  the  teaching  of  history."  ^  The  answer 
to  this  comes  from  history  and  common  sense. 
Society  and  institutions  are  made  up  of  indi- 
viduals; and  although  it  is  unquestionable  that 
the  form  of  society  reacts  upon  the  character  of 
individuals,  no  change  ever  has  or  ever  can 
come  to  the  former  except  as  the  result  of 
changes  in  the  latter. 

The  essence  of  "Christian  socialism'*  is 
summed  up  in  the  proposition  of  Baader  ^  that, 
if  you  want  to  abolish  misery  among  the  poor, 
you  must  first  destroy  sin  in  yourself  and  then 
in  others.  Social  wrongs  are  due  ultimately  to 
sin — to  selfishness  and  improvidence.  Professor 
Ross  even  makes  the  social  effect  of  conduct  the 
only  test  of  its  "sinfulness."  But  the  real  so- 
cialist can  admit  none  of  this.  The  evils  of 
society  are  the  product  of  blind  economic  forces. 
His  philosophy  is  entirely  different  from  that  of 
the  Christian.  The  socialist  is  a  fatalist  to 
whom  history  is  but  the  mechanical  unfolding 
of  a  cosmic  process  in  which  human  will,  hu- 
man consciousness,  human  ideals,  are  but  the 

'  Bax,  /.  c,  130. 

*  Baader,  "Ueber  die  Zeitschrift  Avenir  und  Ihre  Principien," 
Werke,  VI,  31.  (L' Avenir  was  the  organ  of  Lamennais,  the  great 
French  "Christian  socialist.") 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  153 

resultants  of  economic  and  social  forces,  and  in 
which  consequently  there  can  be  no  such  thing 
as  sin,  in  any  real  sense.  There  can  be  no  sin 
in  the  absence  of  freedom  of  the  will;  and  the 
will  which  is  merely  the  creature  of  circum- 
stances is  not  free.  "In  the  materialistic 
(Marxian)  conception,"  says  Veblen,^  "man's 
spiritual  life — ^whatever  man  thinks — is  a  reflex 
of  what  he  is  in  the  material  respect."  And 
Marx  himself  says:  ^  "The  ideal  is  nothing  else 
than  the  material  world  reflected  by  the  human 
mind,  and  translated  into  forms  of  thought." 
Man's  aspirations,  his  morality,  his  religion, 
are  all  the  outcome  of  his  environment — ^which 
is,  therefore,  his  master.  But  the  idealist  knows 
that  man  can  and  should  be  the  master  of  his 
environment,  "the  captain  of  his  fate."  "Facts" 
are  not  as  stubborn  as  they  seem.  "Ideas  can 
be  quite  as  stubborn  as  any  particular  facts, 
can  outlast  them,  and,  in  the  end,  abolish 
them." '  One-sided  emphasis  on  either  is  a 
mistake;  but  it  is  better  to  err  on  the  spiritual- 
istic than  on  the  materialistic  side. 

The  world  of  Jesus  is  one  in  which  "inequal- 
ity is  an  essential  aspect  of  human  life."  *    As 

'  Veblen,  Quar.  Jour.  Ec.,  Vol.  XX,  p.  580. 

*Marx,  "Capital,"  xvii. 

» Josiah  Royce,  "The  World  and  the  Individual,"  I,  287. 

f  Peabody,  /.  c,  290. 


154  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

we  have  already  seen,  spiritual  and  material  in- 
equality are  the  very  foundations  of  the  churches* 
missionary,  charitable,  and  social  work.  In 
a  wise  view,  the  churches  take  equality  for  an 
ideal;  but  to  ignore  the  present  state  of  ine- 
quality would  be  not  only  foolish  but  cruel. 
Socialism  also  aims  at  an  equality  of  some  kind, 
although  its  precise  nature  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  disentangle  from  the  mass  of  conflicting 
proposals  on  the  subject.  There  is,  however, 
an  essential  diff'erence  between  it  and  the  kind 
of  equality  Christianity  holds  in  view,  and  con- 
sequently a  diff^erence  in  the  methods  by  which 
they  are  to  be  attained.  The  socialist  aims  at  an 
average  level;  the  Christian  tries  to  raise  all  to 
the  top.  The  socialist  would  elevate  the 
"  masses,"  and,  if  necessary,  to  that  end  would 
depress  the  "classes";  Christianity  would  raise 
all  together  to  ideals  higher  than  the  present 
highest  actuality. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Christianity  as 
such  has  nothing  to  do  with  details  of  social 
method.  Jesus  did  not  propose  a  particular 
economic  scheme,  but  a  way  of  life  which  should 
be  lived  under  any  system.  He  did,  to  be  sure, 
propose  a  system  of  moral  principles  which 
might  be  applied  as  a  test  to  any  scheme,  social, 
economic,  or  religious;   and  any  scheme  which 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  155 

meets  the  requirements  of  this  test  might,  in  a 
sense,  be  called  Christian.  As  we  shall  see, 
socialism  does  not  and  cannot  meet  these  re- 
quirements. It  makes  no  pretense  of  doing  so. 
The  social  democracy  is  an  entirely  new  con- 
ception of  life.  "Socialism,"  says  Bax,*  "is 
essentially  neither  religious  nor  irreligious,  in- 
asmuch as  it  reaffirms  the  unity  of  human 
life."  Christianity  affirms  this  unity  also,  but 
Christianity  is  essentially  religious.  Christian- 
ity insists  that  the  spirit  in  the  machinery  of 
production  and  distribution  shall  be  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood;  but  it  has  nothing  to  say  about 
the  construction  of  the  machinery.  It  says: 
get  the  power,  and  you  can  make  almost  any 
kind  of  a  machine  work.  Socialism,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  concerned  mainly  with  a  special 
design  of  machine.  It  says:  make  your  ma- 
chine right,  and  the  power  will  take  care  of  it- 
self. But  physics,  as  well  as  religion,  is  against 
the  socialist. 

4.  Moral  Values 

There  are  also  fundamental  differences  be- 
tween the  ethics  of  Christianity  and  of  social- 
ism. The  Christian  type  of  social  union  is  "  a 
true  brotherhood  founded  on  devotion  and  self- 

>  Bax,  /.  c,  48,  53. 


156  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

sacrifice."  *  It  is  only  on  such  a  basis  as  this 
that  civilized  society,  with  its  ever-growing  so- 
ciality and  interdependence,  can  exist  at  all. 
Now  self-denial  is  essentially  a  religious  quality. 
It  must  find  its  basis,  if  anywhere,  in  an  ideal, 
superhuman  ^  system,  such  a  system  as  the 
socialist  philosophy  must  deny.  One  of  the  in- 
herent self-contradictions  in  socialism,  which 
could  not  but  be  fatal  to  its  workability,  is  its 
dependence  (as  a  system  of  production)  upon 
an  unselfish  idealistic  devotion  to  secure  purely 
selfish  and  materialistic  ends.  It  demands  per- 
fect cooperation  from  consummate  egoists.  It 
would  be  absurd  and  unjust  to  deny  that  there 
are  many  thoughtful  enthusiasts  now  working 
for  socialism  who  are  not  only  not  in  it  for  per- 
sonal gain,  but,  in  fact,  suffer  loss,  and  even 
martyrdom,  in  behalf  of  their  cause.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  any  one  who  has  ever  attended 
a  socialist  meeting  must  have  been  struck  with 
the  crass  selfishness  of  the  majority  of  the  so- 
cialists present,  and  their  bitter  hatred  of  capital, 
apparently  based  mainly  on  their  lack  of  it. 

When   the   American    Federation   of  Labor 
passed  resolutions '  endorsing  the  Presbyterian 

*  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  35. 

*  Benjamin  Kidd, "  Social  Evolution,"  for  elaboration  of  this  idea. 
'  Stelzle,  30  "Ann.  Am.  Ac,"  460. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  157 

Department  of  Church  and  Labor,  it  was  on  the 
ground  of  its  "  insuring  a  better  understanding 
on  the  part  of  the  church  and  the  clergy  of  the 
aims  and  objects  of  the  labor  union  movement 
in  America."  They  saw  a  chance  to  get  some- 
thing, for  which  it  never  occurred  to  them  that 
they  owed  anything  in  return.  The  Federation 
of  Labor  is  not  a  socialist  body,  nor  does  it  go 
as  far  as  the  socialists  in  its  self-assertiveness. 
Social  revolution  insists  on  rights,  and  would 
abolish  duties.  As  claimed  by  one  of  its  advo- 
cates, Oscar  Wilde:  ^  "The  chief  advantage 
that  would  result  from  the  establishment  of 
socialism  is,  undoubtedly,  the  fact  that  social- 
ism would  relieve  us  from  that  sordid  necessity 
of  living  for  others  which,  in  the  present  condi- 
tion of  things,  presses  so  hardly  upon  almost 
everybody."  Perin  ^  describes  socialism  as  "a 
utilitarian  arrogance  which  brings  into  play 
every  kind  of  selfishness  and  makes  liberty  as 
maleficent  as  despotism." 

Socialism,  in  fact,  proposes  a  new  transvalua- 
tion  of  all  moral  values.  "All  the  virtues  in  the 
Christian  armory,"  says  Mr.  Campbell,'  "are 
more  likely  to  prove  a  hindrance  than  a  help  to 

*  Wilde,  "The  Soul  of  Man  under  Socialism,"  Fortnightly  Rev., 
Vol.  LV,  p.  292. 

'  Perin,  "  Doctrines  economiques,"  207. 

*  Campbell,  /.  c,  208. 


158  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

getting  the  wage  earner  into  the  ranks  of  the 
employers";  and  as  socialism  aims  to  make 
every  one  the  employer  of  every  one  else,  the 
sooner  such  virtues  are  cast  aside  as  obsolete  the 
better.  Honesty  loses  its  meaning  in  the  hands 
of  even  a  "Christian  socialist":  for  what  must 
one  think  of  Mr.  Campbell's  ingenious  scheme 
of  buying  out  all  private  businesses  in  order  to 
avoid  the  appearance  of  confiscation,  and  then 
depriving  the  money  paid  for  them  of  all  ex- 
change value  ?  *  In  the  socialist  philosophy, 
according  to  Guyot,*  theft  becomes  a  positive 
virtue.  Of  course,  this  is  perfectly  logical  in 
a  system  which  denies  the  right  of  private  prop- 
erty, though  it  may  permit  it  as  a  favor.  Per- 
haps it  is  right  to  "expropriate  the  expropria- 
tors"; but  if  the  first  expropriation  was  wrong, 
it  is  diflficult  to  see  how  the  proposed  one  can  be 
any  better. 

Bax  says  of  Christianity:'  "in  its  praise  of 
industry  and  thrift  it  is  decidedly  anti-social- 
istic." Industry  and  thrift  tend  toward  the 
amelioration  of  one's  lot  under  the  present  sys- 
tem, and  thus  to  make  one  less  discontented 
with  this  system;    therefore,  by  socialist  logic, 

'  Ibid.,  192,  219. 

*Guyot,   "La  com6die  socialiste,"    72   {Vappropriaiion   so- 
dale). 
*  Bax,  /.  c,  94. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  159 

"for  a  town  or  country  laborer  to  practise  thrift 
would  be  absolutely  immoral."  *  Similarly 
with  charity.  "Charity  is  worse  than  useless; 
systematically  practised  it  is  a  demoralizing  in- 
fluence." ^  Rescue  work  is  also  futile.  The 
humanitarian  work  of  the  churches,  since  it 
attacks  symptoms  and  not  causes,  is  an  entire 
waste  of  energy.  Altruism  only  aggravates 
social  distress.'  The  only  possible  ground  for 
these  conclusions  must  be  some  such  theory  as 
that,  if  you  cannot  cure  a  disease  outright,  it  is 
an  injury  to  attempt  to  alleviate  the  suffering. 

Patience  is,  of  course,  a  bourgeois  virtue  in- 
vented to  keep  the  proletariat  from  getting  in  a 
hurry  to  walk  into  their  inheritance.  "So  long 
as  Christianity  ruled  the  minds  of  men  the  idea 
of  revolution  was  rejected  as  a  sinful  revolt 
against  divinely  constituted  authority,"  accord- 
ing to  Kautsky.  A  religion  of  suffering,  humil- 
ity, and  resignation  is  opposed  to  class  pride  and 
class  antagonism,  and  consequently  can  find  no 
sympathizers  among  those  to  whom  humility 
and  resignation  are  vices,  and  suffering  a  crime 
for  which  the  rich  must  be  made  to  pay  the 
penalty. 

"The   morose   priggishness   involved   in  the 

» wade,  /.  c,  29.  2  Campbell,  /.  c,  165,  268,  166. 

»  WUde,  /.  c. 


i6o  THE  CHURCHES 

reverential  attitude  of  mind  which  is  de  rigueur 
with  Protestantism "  ^  also  comes  in  for  a  share 
of  attention.  "The  notion  of  reverence,"  says 
Bax,  "like  that  of  personal  religion,  is  the  crea- 
tion of  that  middle  class  order  which  took  its 
first  rise  in  the  sixteenth,  and  has  culminated  in 
the  world  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

In  the  opinion  of  many  socialists,  the  institu- 
tion of  the  family  is  incompatible  with  indus- 
trial democracy,  so  it  would  have  to  go  also. 
The  family  took  its  origin  together  with  private 
property  and  is  bound  up  with  that  institution. 
Woman  cannot  enjoy  that  economic  freedom 
which  is  every  one's  birthright  in  the  socialist 
state  so  long  as  she  is  hampered  by  marriage. 
Personal  purity  is  a  strictly  individualistic  mat- 
ter, and  therefore  non-moral.' 

These  conceptions  are  not  merely  the  vagaries 
of  revolutionary  minds.  They  are  logical  de- 
ductions from  a  definite  philosophy  of  history 
and  of  life.  They  are  the  inevitable  accompani- 
ments of  an  ethic  of  egoism,  just  as  the  princi- 
ples of  Christianity  are  the  natural  outcome  of 
an  ethic  of  idealism. 

*Bax, /.  c,  177,31. 

*  August  Bebel,  "Woman";  William  Morris,  "News  from  No- 
where"; Bax,  "Outspoken  Essays,"  etc.;  H.  G.  Walls,  "Socialism 
and  the  Family." 


CHAPTER  IV 

ORIGIN  AND  CORRECTION  OF  THE  ERROR 

^^XTTIY  is  it  that  in  view  of  all  these  consider- 
ations it  is  still  possible  for  thoughtful 
men  to  make  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  is  not  incompatible  with  so- 
cialism ?  It  is  probably  because,  while  there  is 
no  point  of  contact  between  Christianity  and 
socialism  on  religion,  it  is  felt  there  may  be  in 
matters  of  social  interest.  Socialism  exempli- 
fies, in  its  best  advocates,  a  burning  aspiration 
for  social  justice,  for  the  immediate  amelioration 
of  the  lot  of  suffering  humanity.  "Socialism 
appeals  to  justice,  and  this  moral  basis  of  its  de- 
mands is  the  common  platform  upon  which 
Christian  and  un-Christian  socialism  meet."  * 

But  there  is  recently  manifest  a  tendency  to 
push  this  community  of  interest  further  than  the 
facts  warrant.  Justice  is  admitted  to  be  a  vir- 
tue by  both  Christianity  and  socialism;  so  it  is 
also  by  anarchism,  and  Buddhism,  and  Moham- 
medanism; but  that  is  hardly  sufficient  ground 
for  the  assertion  that  they,  therefore,  stand  on 

*  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  201. 

161 


i62  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

a  common  platform.  The  looseness  of  thought 
and  of  statement  which  has  characterized  the 
discussion  of  this  subject,  with  a  few  honorable 
exceptions,  reaches  its  climax  in  this  eloquent 
passage  of  Mr.  Campbell's:^  "Anything  that 
tends  toward  universal  brotherhood  is  Chris- 
tian; anything  that  makes  for  wider  life  for  all 
instead  of  for  the  few  only  is  Christian;  any- 
thing that  encourages  the  highest  self-expression 
of  the  individual  in  the  service  of  the  common 
good  is  Christian;  anything  that  tends  toward 
the  destruction  of  selfishness  and  the  demolition 
of  all  barriers  of  privilege  between  nation  and 
nation  or  man  and  man  is  Christian."  True; 
but  Mr.  Campbell  means  to  identify  these  aspi- 
rations, which  are  common  to  all  lovers  of 
mankind,  to  all  thoughtful  students  of  society 
and  of  life,  exclusively  with  socialism;  and  then 
he  concludes  that  socialism  is  identical  with 
Christianity!  "Harmonization"  has  performed 
some  wonderful  feats  in  its  day;  but  this  seems 
to  be  worthy  of  the  crown. 

It  is  a  very  simple  trick,  this  latest  move  of 
socialism.  It  consists  in  taking  whatever  good 
socialism  has  derived  from  Christianity  and 
holding  it  up  to  the  latter  as  a  model  and  a  test. 
The  socialists  absorbed  their  notions  of  justice 

*  Campbell,  /.  c,  148. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  163 

from  the  Christian  atmosphere  in  which  they 
were  nurtured;  and  then  Christianity  is  interro- 
gated, with  an  injured  air,  as  to  why  it  does  not 
admit  its  socialism,  inasmuch  as  it  teaches  the 
same  virtue,  justice.  This  process  is  hand- 
somely illustrated  in  The  Christian  Socialist^  a 
magazine  published  in  Chicago.  It  says:  ^  "If 
you  don*t  want  socialism,  quit  professing  to 
believe  in  the  'Golden  Rule'  as  a  rule  of  life. 
If  you  don't  want  socialism,  do  not  follow 
Christ,  who  said,  'Love  one  another  as  I  have 
loved  you.'  If  you  don't  want  socialism,  quit 
repeating  the  Beatitudes,  etc."  In  other  words, 
the  test  of  real  Christianity  is  its  conformity 
with  socialism,  because  socialism  has  adopted, 
as  catch-words,  some  of  the  mottoes  (but  none 
of  the  spirit)  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

Another  phase  of  the  manoeuvre  is  admirably 
exhibited  in  the  quotation  just  given  from  Mr. 
Campbell.  Socialism  appropriates  all  the  hopes 
and  ideals  of  all  the  best  thinkers  which  it  can 
by  any  possibility  fit  into,  or  hang  on  to,  its 
system;  and  then  reissues  them  labelled  "So- 
cialistic." I  suppose  that  in  one  sense  anything 
which  has  to  do  with  social  life  is  "socialistic." 
But  as  was  shown  above,  "Socialism"  is  the 
name  for  a  specific  programme  of  economic  and 

*  The  Christian  Socialist,  March  19,  1908. 


i64  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

social  action,  with  definite  and  easily  recogniz- 
able features.*  The  substantive  "sociaHsm" 
and  the  adjective  "socialist"  should  be  re- 
stricted to  this  definite  system.  The  adjective 
"socialistic"  could  then  be  used,  although  still 
too  easily  misunderstood,  to  indicate  any  eco- 
nomic or  social  measure,  whether  "socialist"  or 
not.  It  would  be  well  if  we  had  another  noun, 
"socialistik,"  formed  on  German  analogies;^ 
to  cover  all  social  measures  outside  of  "  social- 
ism." State  regulation  of  corporations  would 
then  be  "socialistic,"  but  very  far  indeed  from 
"socialist."  In  fact,  in  its  tendency  to  foster 
and  protect,  by  purifying,  private  enterprise,  it 
would  be  the  direct  antithesis  of  "socialism," 
which  would  abolish  private  enterprise  entirely. 
Of  course  the  church  should  recognize  the 
good  in  socialism,  as  it  should  also  in  its  polar 
opposite  anarchism,  and  in  anything  else  that 
has  any  good  in  it.  And  although  it  is  not  true 
that  "the  church  has  much  to  learn  from  social- 
ism," '  it  can  learn  much  from  the  origin  and 
history  of  the  movement.  As  in  Germany,  the 
Social  Democracy  has  been  called  the  only 
champion  of  the  new  needs  of  a  new  era  for  the 

•  Ante,  p.  104. 

*C/-  "mysticismus"  and  "mystik." 

»  Mathews,  "The  Church  and  the  Changing  Order,"  174. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  165 

workingmen/  so  everywhere  the  churches*  fail- 
ure to  champion  these  new  needs  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  the  infidelity  of  the  masses  of  the 
laboring  people.  As  Professor  Ely  says :  ^  "  The 
clergy  are  partly  to  blame  for  the  irreligious 
attitude  of  many  modern  socialists";  and  there 
is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  the  growth  of  so- 
cialism and  the  concurrent  decline  of  the 
churches  are  correlated  about  this  centre. 

For  it  is  true  that  there  are  grave  moral  dan- 
gers inherent  in  a  competitive  system  to  which 
the  church  has  not  in  the  past  paid  sufficient 
attention.  The  demands  of  business  often  per- 
mit, not  to  say  encourage,  practices  which  are 
in  direct  violation  of  ethics.  In  many  respects 
the  ethics  of  commercialism  are  contrary  to  the 
ethics  of  the  church.  This  of  course  does  not 
mean  that  the  present  system  must  be  abolished; 
but  it  does  mean  that  the  divergence  between 
the  ethics  which  are  most  successful  in  it,  and  the 
ethics  of  Christianity,  must  be  overcome,  and  that 
the  church  is  the  natural  agency  through  which 
the  reform  should  be  wrought.  It  is  true  that  some 
of  the  virtues  of  business  life — ^truth,  honor,  fi- 
delity, loyalty — are  also  Christian  virtues; '  but 

*  Gohre,  "Three  Months  in  a  Workshop,"  in. 

*  Ely,  "French  and  German  Socialism,"  23. 

*  Peabody,  /.  c,  319. 


i66  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

they  are  not  exclusively  Christian  virtues,  and 
the  people  see  no  reason  for  crediting  the  churches 
with  such  prevalence  as  they  have  attained. 
It  is  also  true — and  this  is  a  fact  apt  to  be  over- 
looked by  all  but  the  socialists — ^that  these  are 
the  virtues  of  the  employee,  not  necessarily  of 
the  employer,  in  modern  industry.  The  most 
conspicuous  great  fortunes  of  our  day  were,  in 
general,  made  precisely  through  the  utter  neg- 
lect of  these  virtues — and  that,  often,  by  des- 
perately conscientious  "Christians."  This  is 
matter  of  common  knowledge;  and  it  is  about 
time  for  the  churches*  voice  to  be  heard  in  un- 
mistakable protest  against  such  a  condition. 

Nor  should  the  churches  be  surprised  that  in 
this  day  of  growing  wealth  and  industry  the 
laborers  are  demanding  a  larger  share  of  the 
enjoyments  of  life.  This  is  not  entirely  a  de- 
mand for  mere  materialistic  satisfaction.  Com- 
mon observation  shows  that  wealth  stands  for 
more  abundant  life  while  poverty  usually 
means  a  narrow  life.  "The  greater  our  com- 
munal command  of  the  potentialities  of  the  ma- 
terial world  in  which  we  live,  the  greater  the  ex- 
tent of  our  spiritual  possibilities." '  It  is  not 
only  easy  to  be  virtuous  on  ten  thousand  a  year: 
it  is  easier  to  stimulate  and  satisfy  the  craving 

•  Campbell,  I.  c,  234. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  167 

for  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  improvement, 
if  one  is  inclined  that  way;  and  many  a  man 
who  yearns  and  works  for  a  better  material 
order  does  so,  not  for  "pudding  and  praise," 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  ideal  benefits  he  expects 
to  derive  from  it.  So  far  as  this  is  a  demand  of 
socialism,  it  should  be  recognized  as  a  just  de- 
mand; and  as  a  just  demand  it  must  be  included 
within  the  principles  of  Christianity. 

Here  one  must,  however,  be  on  his  guard 
about  the  use  of  this  word  "justice."  The  so- 
cialist demands  "justice  in  distribution,"  and 
the  Christian  is  inclined  at  once  to  say,  "Well, 
of  course,  we,  too,  want  justice  in  distribution, 
so  we  must  be  to  that  extent  socialists."  But  the 
socialist  proposes  a  number  of  definite  schemes 
of  distribution,  e.  g.,  "from  each  according  to  his 
ability,  to  each  according  to  his  need";  more 
specifically  he  insists  that  the  share  of  labor  in 
the  total  product  of  industry  is  the  whole  of  the 
product,  inasmuch  as  labor  made  it.  But  a  care- 
ful analysis  will  show  that  the  first  proposal  is 
not  only  utterly  impracticable,  but  would  not  be 
just,  by  any  customary  standard,  if  it  were  at- 
tainable; while  the  second  overlooks  the  fact 
that  land  and  brains  and  self-denial  (saving)  are 
also  factors  in  the  production  of  the  world's 
goods,  and  are  themselves  entitled  to  share  in 


i68  THE  CHURCHES 

the  product.  This  whole  question  of  justice  as 
applied  to  distribution  is  a  difficult  one  which 
still  awaits  treatment  at  the  hands  of  one  who 
is  at  once  an  economist  and  an  ethicist.  In  the 
meantime  it  behooves  us  not  to  dogmatize  on 
the  subject. 


PART  IV 
WHAT  TO  DO 


THE  TASK 

It  may  be  that  the  combination  of  conserva- 
tism and  progress  which  is,  or  should  be,  found 
in  the  churches  may  yet  save  society  both  from 
socialism  and  from  industrial  and  social  an- 
archy. The  danger  is  only  that  the  forces  of 
progress  in  the  churches  may  be  overcome  by  the 
forces  of  retrogression  in  the  future  as  they  have 
been  so  often  in  the  past;  and  that  a  democratic 
despotism  without  the  churches  may  be  found 
preferable  to  a  plutocratic  or  oligarchic  tyranny 
with  them. 

The  spirit  of  mutual  helpfulness  and  broth- 
erhood which  has  been  read  into  socialism  is 
the  spirit  which  must  find  a  manifestation  in 
some  form  of  society  sooner  or  later.  It  is  be- 
cause the  spirit  of  brotherhood  is  an  essentially 
idealistic  and  religious  spirit,  while  the  genius 
of  socialism  is  materialistic  and  irreligious,  that 
we  are  unable  to  find  any  common  ground  be- 
tween it  and  Christianity,  and,  in  fact,  find  them 
utterly  opposed  to  each  other.  But  it  still  re- 
mains for  this  religious  spirit  to  be  fostered  and 

171 


172  THE  CHURCHES 

applied  to  some  economic  system,  the  present 
one  or  another,  and  by  some  agency,  the  church 
or  another.  When  the  present  churches  are 
seen  going  about  this  business,  the  working- 
men's  confidence  in  them  may  be  restored — but 
not  before.  How  the  churches  can  show  that 
they  are  doing  this  will  now  be  considered. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  OPPORTUNITY 

PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT,  with  charac- 
,  teristic  force  and  acumen,  has  observed : 
"The  shifting  of  the  churches  from  the  plain 
people  to  the  rich  in  the  cities  must  be  looked 
upon  with  discomfort  and  alarm.'*  ^  Mr. 
Charles  Booth  views  the  phenomenon  with 
more  than  discomfort  and  alarm:  in  fact,  with 
positive  and  complete  despair.  The  alienation 
of  the  masses  is  so  complete,  their  indifference 
to  the  church  is  so  dense,  that  the  task  of  win- 
ning them  back  appears  very  heavy  indeed. 
The  hopelessness  of  it  becomes  final  once  the 
churches  are  satisfied  with  the  present  situation. 
They  have  in  the  past  encountered  difficulties 
almost  equally  staggering,  but,  by  perseverance 
and  enthusiasm,  they  have  succeeded  in  over- 
coming them.  Their  chief  danger  now  seems  to 
lie  in  a  certain  perceptible  wilful  ignorance  and 
indifference. 

•  Hodges  and  Reichert,  "The  Administration  of  an   Institu- 
tional Church,"  ix. 

173 


174  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

In  view  of  the  blind  optimism  of  some  of  the 
"servants  of  reHgion,"  it  is  refreshing  (or  dis- 
couraging) to  read  this  clear  and  sane  expression 
of  an  "outsider":^  "Even  the  philosophic 
free-thinker  cannot  look  upon  that  vast  change 
in  religious  ideas  that  is  now  sweeping  over  the 
civilized  world  without  feeling  that  this  tremen- 
dous fact  may  have  most  momentous  relations, 
which  only  the  future  can  develop.  For  what 
is  going  on  is  not  a  change  in  the  form  of  re- 
ligion, but  the  negation  and  destruction  of  the 
ideas  from  which  religion  springs.  Christianity 
is  not  simply  clearing  itself  of  superstitions,  but 
in  the  popular  mind  it  is  dying  at  the  root,  as 
the  old  paganisms  were  dying  when  Christianity 
entered  the  world.  And  nothing  arises  to  take 
its  place.  The  fundamental  ideas  of  an  intelli- 
gent Creator  and  of  a  future  life  are  in  the  gen- 
eral mind  rapidly  weakening." 

But  there  are  still  seven  thousand  left  who 
have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal;  who  are  cer- 
tain that  religion  is  the  salvation  not  only  of  the 
individual  but  of  society;  and  that  as  religion 
cannot,  apparently,  long  persist  except  as  ex- 
pressed in  some  form  of  organization,  the 
church,  in  some  form  or  other,  must  be  a  per- 
manent feature  of  civilization,  if  civilization  it- 

*  George,  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  539. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  175 

self  is  to  live  and  attain  to  ever  greater  heights. 
The  present  situation,  then,  instead  of  being 
looked  upon  as  a  cause  of  despair,  is  rather  to 
be  considered  a  challenge  and  an  opportunity. 
As  Dr.  Gordon  said :  * "  We  are  confronted  by 
our  greatest  opportunity.  In  the  stern  days 
that  are  before  us,  in  the  terrible  epoch  of  the 
trial  of  strength  between  capital  and  labor, 
there  is  an  immeasurable  opportunity  for  the 
church  that  appeals  to  man  as  man,  that  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  that  claims  Lazarus  the 
beggar  as  a  son  of  God,  that  reminds  Dives  that 
he  is  nothing  more,  and  that  seeks  by  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Divine  Man  to  lift  human  society  into 
the  mood  and  power  of  brotherhood." 

There  is  not  now,  nor  probably  ever  will  be 
again,  such  an  occasion  for  theological  discus- 
sion as  some  periods  of  the  past  have  afforded. 
"Christology"  is  not  the  dominant  issue  of  the 
day,  outside  of  theological  conferences  and  di- 
vinity schools.  The  present  opportunity  lies, 
not  merely  in  "the  respect  of  the  workingmen 
for  Christ,"  nor  even  in  the  responsiveness  of 
labor  to  the  "  simple  gospel  of  the  working  Je- 
sus," favorable  as  these  conditions  are,  if  true. 
The  churches'  opportunity  to-day  is  social,  and 
only  social.     The  responsiveness  of  the  people 

*  George  A.  Gordon,  "Denominational  Memories,"  31. 


176  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

to  the  gospel  Is  a  responsiveness  to  a  social  gos- 
pel only.  It  is  the  outcome  of  the  birth  of  a 
new  spirit  of  social  aspiration  in  the  ranks  of 
labor,  a  spirit  which  would  like  the  sanction  of 
the  gospel  if  the  gospel  can  be  shown  to  con- 
form to  it,  but  which  otherwise  is  not  interested 
in  the  gospel  at  all. 

Experience  has  demonstrated  that  the  policy 
of  inviting,  scolding,  and  warning  the  un- 
churched is  not  sufficient.  The  invitation  is  de- 
clined, the  scolding  is  resented,  the  warning  is 
ridiculed.  If  the  churches  are  not  to  miss  their 
present  chance,  they  must  seek  the  people;  they 
must  modernize  their  preaching  and  their  prac- 
tice, especially  along  social  and  economic  lines; 
they  must  revise  and  improve  their  methods  in 
the  light  of  experience;  and  they  must  secure 
abler  leaders  and  preachers. 

As  the  workingmen  will  not  come  to  the 
churches,  the  churches  must  go  to  the  working- 
men.  If  there  is  any  adaptation  to  be  done, 
the  churches  must  take  the  initiative;  for,  appar- 
ently, the  people  are  getting  along  much  better 
(for  awhile,  at  least)  without  the  churches  than 
the  churches  can  without  the  people.  This  pol- 
icy of  seeking  the  people  is  especially  to  be  ex- 
pected in  those  churches  in  which  the  clergy  are 
not  a  special  class  in  the  nature  of  a  sacred  aris- 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  177 

tocracy,  but  are  a  "citizen  clergy,"  as  in  Eng- 
land and  America. 

There  must  be  an  aggressive,  intelligent  and 
carefully  planned  campaign  to  recapture  the 
masses  of  the  workingmen.  The  women  and 
children  also  must  not  be  neglected;  for  even 
they,  especially  business  women,  are  showing 
signs  of  failing  to  respond  to  the  confidence 
which  has  for  so  long  been  justly  placed  in 
them.  Nor  is  it  worth  while  to  "build  up'*  one 
church  by  merely  taking  the  members  out  of 
another.  This  process  may  help  the  individual 
member,  if  he  finds  a  better  church;  but  it 
makes  no  impression  upon  society  as  a  whole. 

It  is  truly  said  that  the  church  must  save  the 
immigrant  or  she  cannot  save  herself.^  There 
is  a  great  demand  for  churchmen  of  all  denom- 
inations to  work  among  the  foreigners.  The 
immigrant,  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  is  con- 
fronted by  many  difficult  problems,  in  the 
handling  of  which  a  single  word  from  one  who 
knows  might  sometimes  save  an  infinity  of 
trouble.  Here  is  a  chance  for  Christian  work 
which,  if  it  were  more  frequently  seized  upon, 
would  save  many  an  immigrant's  faith  in  re- 
ligion. To  be  sure,  plans  for  capturing  the  for- 
eign Catholic  and  making  a  Protestant  of  him 

*  Stelzle,  "Christianity's  Storm  Centre,"  26. 


178  THE  CHURCHES 

the  moment  he  lands  have  been  carefully 
worked  out;  and  it  has  been  found  that  the 
Italians  are  open  to  evangelization.  The  chief 
obstacle  to  this  kind  of  missionary  work  among 
the  foreigners,  according  to  one  of  its  leaders, 
is  the  lack  of  harmony  and  cooperation  between 
the  Protestant  churches.^  A  greater  obstacle, 
as  it  would  appear  to  the  disinterested  observer, 
is  that  the  movement  is  a  case  of  misdirected 
effort,  so  long  as  its  sole  aim  is  the  conversion  of 
Catholics  to  Protestantism.  If  the  Home  Mis- 
sions would  direct  their  energies  to  keeping  the 
immigrants  in  active  connection  with  the 
churches  to  which  they  are  accustomed;  and, 
better  still,  if  they  would  devote  the  same 
amount  of  zeal  to  missionary  work  among  all 
classes  of  the  population,  native  as  well  as  fo- 
eign,  it  would  seem  more  in  harmony  with 
present  needs. 

*■  Grose,  "Aliens  or  Americans?" 


CHAPTER  II 

SOCIAL  PREACHING 

'TpHE  churches  must  offer  the  people  a  mod- 
ern  Christianity  in  harmony  with  current 
modes  of  thought  in  history  and  science.  In- 
sistence on  the  traditional  theology  is  an  utter 
failure.  Revisions  and  reinterpretations  accom- 
plish but  little.  The  churches  must  look  to  the 
problems  of  the  present  rather  than  of  the  past. 
They  must  not  forget  that  other  agencies  are  at 
work  educating  the  common  people,  and  that 
those  agents  are  "right  up  to  date."  While  re- 
ligion remains  the  chief  part  of  the  churches* 
work,  they  must  so  broaden  their  definition  of 
religion  as  to  cover  all  life;  while  they  must 
continue  the  work  of  character  building,  it  must 
be  placed  on  a  broader  basis.  They  must  trans- 
fer their  onslaught  from  personal  and  individual 
"vice"  to  social  and  collective  "sin."*  They 
must  remember  that  the  churches  are  at  least 
one  of  the  means  of  social  regeneration;  that 
the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  should  not 

•  Ross,  "  Sin  and  Society." 

179 


i8o  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

be  brought  about  exclusively  by  the  schools  and 
the  settlements  and  the  labor  organizations  and 
the  political  parties  and  the  "secular"  press. 

The  great  problems  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple to-day  are  not  theological  but  social  prob- 
lems. The  people  care  not  about  the  disputes 
of  the  Higher  Criticism,  nor  about  the  philosophy 
of  religion,  nor  even  about  the  place  of  Christ  in 
theology — the  great  Christological  problem  on 
the  solution  of  which  the  divines  seem  to  think 
the  world  hangs,  but  about  which,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  greater  part  of  the  world  cares  not  at 
all.  The  religious  problem  about  which  the 
world  is  concerned  is  quite  a  different  matter. 
"Behind  all  the  extraordinary  achievements  of 
modern  civilization  there  lies  the  burdening 
sense  of  social  mal-adjustment  which  creates 
the  social  question."  *  The  social  question  is 
a  religious  problem  in  its  spirit,  though  its  form 
is  economic.  At  its  root  is  a  "passionate  de- 
mand for  industrial  justice";  and  the  problem 
of  industrial  justice  is  almost  the  only  ethical 
problem  which  the  churches  have  not  already  set- 
tled to  the  practical  satisfaction  of  all.^ 

The  churches  have  accomplished  their  work 

*  Peabody,  /.  c,  2. 

*  Except  the  socialists,  whose  philosophy  does  not  permit  them 
to  accept  the  conclusions  of  Christian  ethics,  as  shown  in  Part 
III. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  i8i 

too  well  for  their  own  good.  The  Christian 
standards  of  ethics  are  in  the  atmosphere  and 
the  blood;  they  have  become  the  conscience  of 
Western  peoples.  The  churches  now  are  saying 
nothing  which  the  people  do  not  already  know. 
So  long  as  the  ministers  confine  themselves  to 
the  old  ground  of  personal  morality,  it  is  as 
though  they  were  to  repeat  the  table  of  threes 
every  Sunday  morning.  In  ethics  they  conduct 
a  perpetual  kindergarten;  when  they  talk  the- 
ology they  are  conducting  a  seminary  in  He- 
brew for  people  who  don't  know  an  aleph  from 
a  carotid  artery,  and  don*t  care.  "Liberty  and 
not  theology  is  the  enthusiasm  of  the  nineteenth 
century,"  wrote  Lecky;  and  his  words  are,  if 
possible,  truer  of  the  twentieth  than  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

What  the  people  of  to-day  need,  and  what  the 
ministers  ought  to  give  them,  is  social  preaching, 
discussion  of  social  and  economic  matters 
from  the  highest  ethical  and  religious  point  of 
view.  The  churches  must  train  a  new  con- 
science prepared  to  meet  the  new  temptations 
of  a  commercialized  age.  "The  evolution  of 
conscience  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  deepening 
problems  of  civilization."  ^  These  problems 
are  in  the  domain  of  social  ethics.    They  de- 

•  Crooker,  "The  Church  of  To-day,"  142. 


i82  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

mand  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  opera- 
tion of  social  and  economic  forces,  and  a  clear 
and  straightforward  discussion  of  them  in  all 
their  details.  The  greatest  preachers  and 
prophets  the  world  has  known  dealt  directly  and 
intimately  with  the  social  conditions  of  their 
times.  When  the  ordinary  preachers  have  neg- 
lected these,  the  masses  of  the  people,  with 
unerring  instinct,  have  denied  their  claim  to  re- 
ligious leadership,  and  have  followed  "  laymen," 
like  Shaftesbury  and  Phillips  and  Roosevelt,  as 
their  real  priests. 

It  should  not  be  necessary  to  prove  that  such 
preaching  is  scriptural.*  That  it  is  so  we  think 
has  been  sufficiently  established;  but  scriptural 
or  not,  it  must  be  done  if  the  churches  are  to  per- 
form any  useful  function  in  their  present  environ- 
ment. There  is  a  great  source  of  social  energy 
in  the  teachings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, as  yet  unutilized,  but  which  could  be 
made  to  meet  the  revolt  of  the  laboring  classes 
by  proving  that  "the  Christian  religion  is  ra- 
tional, practicable,  socially  redemptive,  and 
economically  justified."  ^  The  preacher  has  an 
opportunity  to  point  out  the  responsibility  of 
Christians  for  social  conditions,  and  to  train 

*  "Ethical  preaching  is  scriptural."    Stelzle,  /.  c,  6i. 
■  Peabody,  /.  c,  299. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  183 

that  individual  sensitiveness  to  social  obliga- 
tions which  is  the  most  pressing  need  of  the 
day.  The  subtle  variations  of  personal  responsi- 
bility which  the  complex  ramifications  of  capital 
permit  to-day  need  to  be  traced  home  and  defi- 
nitely insisted  upon.*  The  minister  must  preach 
"the  new  evangelism,  which  aims  to  reform  the 
social  evils  and  wrongs  that  breed  sinners."  ^ 

It  is  unquestionably  the  duty  of  the  churches 
to  assist  in  effecting  reforms  by  cooperation 
with  other  agencies  in  the  moulding  of  public 
opinion;  such  cooperation  requires  well-in- 
formed social  preaching.  Perhaps  Professor  Com- 
mons's suggestion  that  a  minister  should  devote 
one-half  his  pulpit  work  to  sociology  is  not  ask- 
ing too  much.'  Certainly  if  that  were  done  the 
ministry  would  no  longer  be  subject  to  Professor 
Veblen's  jibe:  "What  falls  within  the  range  of 
economics  falls  below  the  proper  level  of  solici- 
tude of  the  priesthood  in  its  best  estate." 

*  "  A  striking  illustration  of  the  lack  of  a  sense  of  responsibility 
which  those  having  capital  to  invest  often  evince  was  brought  to 
light  recently  in  New  York  City  when  it  was  discovered  that  a 
prominent  church  was  deriving  a  part  of  its  revenues  from  the 
ownership  of  some  of  the  worst  tenement  houses  in  the  city.  When 
those  charged  with  funds  to  further  the  mission  of  Christ  can  per- 
mit them  to  be  invested  in  insanitary  and  immoral  tenements, 
not  much  regard  for  public  welfare  is  to  be  expected  from  ordinary 
investors."    Seager,  "Introduction  to  Economics,"  251. 

*  Outlook,  June  6,  1908. 

'  J.  R.  Commons,  "Social  Reform  and  the  Church,"  19,  ai. 


i84  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

If  the  preachers  made  a  habit  of  diligently 
acquiring  and  systematically  and  clearly  pre- 
senting social  facts,  they  might  also  be  better 
able  to  satisfy  the  present  demand  for  social 
leaders  from  the  churches.  Leadership  in  so- 
cial movements  is  a  field  from  which  ministers 
are  conspicuously  absent,  although  in  it  is  an 
opportunity  to  get  into  close  touch  with  the 
people  and  with  their  aims  such  as  the  clergy 
ought  not  neglect.  Hitherto  they  have  been 
unable  to  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity, 
not  only  on  account  of  indifference  but  more 
particularly  because  of  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  the  problems  with  which  they  would  have  to 
deal. 

Of  course  the  pulpit  must  be  absolutely  non- 
partisan and  impartial  in  its  treatment  of  social 
questions.  It  has  no  place  for  the  suggestion 
that  "the  rich  should  be  driven  out  of  the 
churches,"  *  any  more  than  it  should  allow  the 
poor  to  remain  out  without  any  effort  to  regain 
them.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  rich  should 
be  neglected;  in  fact,  there  are  several  reasons 
why  they  should  receive  special  attention. 
Moderation,  for  example,  and  the  refinement  of 
amusements,  should  be  encouraged  as  virtues  in 
the  rich  as  well  as  in  the  poor. 

*  Peny,  4  Am.  Jour.  Soc.,  634. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  185 

The  churches'  treatment  of  social  matters 
must  also  be  marked  by  absolute  and  unflinch- 
ing justice,  so  far  as  they  can  see  it.  This  is  a 
difficult  matter;  for  often  the  allocation  of  the 
justice  is  not  entirely  clear;  and  when  it  is 
fairly  obvious,  insistence  upon  it  is  quite  sure  to 
antagonize  the  side  placed  in  the  wrong.  Fear- 
lessness toward  wealth  and  "corporate  highway 
robbery"  is  needed;  but  an  equal  fearlessness 
is  necessary  toward  organized  labor  and  mob 
rule. 

The  clergy  are  bound  to  mutual  sympathy 
with  rich  and  poor;  but  the  greater  need  of  the 
poor,  and  the  relative  disadvantage  of  their  po- 
sition, cannot  help  but  sway  the  "shepherds  of 
the  flock"  toward  the  side  of  the  common  peo- 
ple. They  should  make  every  effort  to  grasp 
the  significance  of  the  labor  movement  from  the 
inside;  for  their  position  is  such  that  they  are 
not  likely  to  get  at  the  facts  without  special 
exertion. 

On  occasion,  the  pastor  should  expect  to  be 
the  champion  of  labor.  For  it  must  be  recog- 
nized that  labor  is  not  an  ordinary  commodity. 
It  is  the  disposal  of  the  souls  of  men  which  is  in- 
volved in  settling  the  market  price  of  labor.  It 
is  not  inconceivable  that  a  true  pastor,  whose 
charge  consisted  of  a  large  element  of  laborers, 


i86  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

must  at  times  be  drawn  irresistibly  into  what 
appear  superficially  to  be  mere  bargaining  dis- 
putes, mere  incidents  of  the  "higgling  of  the 
market,"  but  are,  in  reality,  contests  over  the 
price  of  health,  strength,  brain,  character,  and 
life. 

This  aspect  of  the  subject  is  full  of  practical 
difficulties,  and  one  should  be  careful  to  avail 
oneself  of  the  results  of  experience,  whenever 
possible.  National  recognition  of  organized 
labor,  as  by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  has  had 
a  good  effect.  It  is  said  that  the  brilliant  dis- 
covery that  Paul  was  a  member  of  a  labor  union 
produces,  when  properly  handled,  a  better 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  workingmen  toward 
the  church.^  The  observance  of  Labor  Sunday 
has  been  an  unquestionable  good.  The  "peo- 
ple's forum"  idea  works  well,  when  under  tact- 
ful but  firm  leadership.  At  the  Morgan  Memo- 
rial, in  Boston,  the  Forum  meets  every  Sunday 
afternoon  to  listen  to  a  talk  on  some  social 
question,  usually  given  by  a  minister.  The 
meeting  is  then  thrown  open  to  the  audience, 
usually  composed  almost  entirely  of  working- 
men,  for  discussion.  In  Boston  the  Forum  is 
a  thoroughly  democratic  institution,  and  its  suc- 
cess grows  the  longer  it  operates.    In  New  York 

»  Stelzle,  /.  c,  67. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  187 

the  same  thing  has  been  tried  at  the  Parish 
House  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  and  the 
same  gratifying  success  is  reported.*  Similar 
experiments  are  being  tried  in  other  places. 

In  a  former  part  of  this  discussion  it  was  seen 
that  a  large  proportion  of  the  objections  the 
people  urge  against  the  churches  are  simply 
misunderstandings  either  of  theory  or  of  fact. 
The  minister  is  in  a  position  to  correct  these 
misunderstandings,  and  this  is  a  part  of  his 
work  he  should  by  no  means  neglect.  If  the 
minister  does  not  attend  to  it,  no  one  will.  If 
he  cannot  get  the  people  into  his  church  to  listen 
to  him,  he  should  go  to  them  in  their  lodges,  and 
in  public  lecture  halls,  and  in  the  newspapers, 
and  anywhere  else  where  he  can  secure  their 
attention.  After  all,  the  churches  are  not  quite 
so  bad  as  the  people  think;  and  it  is  certainly 
worth  while  to  disseminate  some  correct  infor- 
mation about  the  facts. 

Of  course  it  must  be  understood  that  a  min- 
ister's preaching  cannot  be  exclusively  on  social 
subjects.  The  church  must  make  its  appeal  to 
life,  and  to  the  whole  of  life;  and,  after  all,  man 
is  a  being  who  stands  in  some  relation  person- 
ally to  God,  and  that  relation  is  not  of  second- 

•  Interview  with  Rev.  Percy  S.  Grant,  New  York  Sun,  Apr.  19, 
1908;  Outlook,  May  16,  1908,  p.  113. 


l88  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

ary  importance.  The  church  should  be  "a 
power-house,  where  there  is  generated  a  supply 
of  spiritual  energy  sufficient  to  move  the  world 
with  wisdom,  courage  and  peace."  *  It  still 
remains  true  that  the  church  must  be  a  savior 
first  of  men,  and  a  savior  of  society  through 
them.  "  Behind  the  problem  of  social  life  lies 
the  problem  of  individual  life."^  There  is  a 
great  deal  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  position  that 
the  solution  of  the  social  problem  lies  in  the  en- 
forcement of  the  idea  of  spiritual  sonship,'  es- 
pecially when  a  stronger  emphasis  than  usual  is 
laid  on  its  correlate,  brotherhood.  "Between 
masters  and  workmen  truly  Christian,"  wrote  de 
Laveleye,*  "no  difficulty  could  arise;  for  justice 
would  preside  at  the  distribution  of  the  product." 
Especially  must  the  churches,  in  the  interests 
of  the  happiness  of  mankind  and  the  highest 
ideals  of  civilization,  continue  to  oppose  to  the 
utmost  the  grosser  forms  of  the  materialistic 
thought  of  our  times.  Fortunately,  the  excesses 
of  that  form  of  thought  in  its  baldest  manifesta- 
tions are  already  bringing  about  a  reaction. 
The    popular    interest    in    "New    Thought," 

'  Peabody,  /.  c,  357.  »  George,  /.  c,  553. 

'Mathews,  "Social  Teaching  of  Jesus,"  186;  "The  Church 
and  the  Changing  Order,"  97;  Rauschenbusch,  I.  c,  48;  Glad- 
den, "The  New  Idolatry." 

*  De  Laveleye,  "De  I'avenir  des  peuples  catholiques,"  29. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  189 

"Christian  Science,"  and  similar  movements  is 
encouraging  testimony  to  the  recrudescence  of 
spirituality  and  religion. 

But  it  must  be  insisted  that  religion  covers  all 
the  relations  of  life  and  not  only  a  single  com- 
partment called  "sacred."  The  fallacious  sep- 
aration between  sacred  and  secular  must  be  ab- 
solutely abolished.  In  season  and  out  of  season 
it  must  be  enforced  that,  if  this  is  essentially  a 
spiritual  universe  and  not  merely  a  material  one, 
if  God  is  all  there  is,  then  spirituality  must  per- 
vade politics,  business,  and  secular  occupations, 
as  well  as  "religion"  and  the  ministry;  that  the 
bank  and  the  factory  are  as  essentially  sacred  as 
the  church;  and  that  what  is  evil  in  the  church 
is  evil  in  the  directors'  room  and  on  the  stock 
exchange  also.  The  charge  that  the  churches 
divert  interest  from  evils  in  this  life  to  reward  in 
the  hereafter  must  be  met  by  insisting  that 
heaven  is  here  if  anywhere,  and  that  it  is  for 
men  to  insure  the  reward  of  their  righteous  liv- 
ing, in  a  happy  life.  A  religion  which  is  good 
for  Sunday  only  is  no  religion  at  all  worthy  of 
the  name,  and  the  masses  of  the  people  to-day 
know  it.  The  doctrine  of  immanence  must  be 
consistently  and  assiduously  applied  to  all  life. 
Life  is  primarily  secular;  either  religion  must 
be  secularized,  or  the  secular  sanctified. 


CHAPTER  III 

SOCIAL  PRACTICE 

npHE  ministers'  social  work  should  not  be 
limited  to  their  preaching.  They  should 
be  leaders  in  the  social  and  philanthropic  move- 
ments in  their  neighborhoods.  They  should  ex- 
hibit an  active  "enthusiasm  for  humanity'*  of 
a  kind  that  will  show  clearly  that  the  churches' 
purposes  are  the  best  good  of  the  whole  of  hu- 
manity. The  people  will  serve  the  churches  so 
long  as  the  churches  serve  the  people.  The 
churches  should  embody  all  the  really  Christian 
movements  of  the  world.  They  should  incor- 
porate all  the  social  workers.  This  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  the  settlements  and  other 
"secular"  movements  for  social  betterment 
should  be  made  "religious"  in  a  sense  different 
from  that  in  which  they  are  so  now;  it  means 
that  the  churches'  definition  of  religion  must  be 
so  extended  that  settlement  work  will  easily  be 
seen  to  fall  under  it.     The  ministers  must  be 

brought  to  see  that  "mere  enthusiasm  to  save 

190 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  191 

souls  is  not  sufficient,  for  all  souls  reside  in  bod- 
ies," and  to  accept  all  the  consequences  of  that 
quite  innegligible  fact. 

For  the  churches'  interest  in  the  amelioration 
of  social  conditions  is  not  merely  an  ethical  or 
sentimental  one.  They  are  vitally  interested  in 
the  remedying  of  economic  evils,  in  behalf  of 
the  success  of  their  "soul  redemptive"  work.^ 
Change  of  character  and  change  of  environment 
must  go  together.  Salvation  cannot  come  to  a 
community  so  long  as  the  plague-spot  of  the 
slum  remains  within  it.  The  churches'  influ- 
ence upon  the  daily  life  of  the  individual  de- 
pends largely  upon  his  economic  conditions. 
"So  long  as  life  is  one  long  scramble  for  per- 
sonal gain — still  more,  when  it  is  one  long 
struggle  against  destitution — ^there  is  no  free 
time  or  strength  for  much  development  of  the 
sympathetic,  intellectual,  artistic,  or  religious 
faculties."^  Gbhre  asks  pointedly:  "How 
can  we  be  honestly  reproachful  if  a  meal  in  the 
street  is  begun  without  the  folded  hands  of 
prayer.?" 

Nor  should  the  churches  overlook  the  influ- 
ence of  economic  conditions  upon  the  supply  of 
ministers.      In   a   commercial   environment   in 

*  Rauschenbusch,  /.  c,  291. 

■  Webb,  "Industrial  Democracy,"  849. 


192  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

which  success  is  measured  by  income,  and  in 
which  the  income  of  selfishness  is  great,  while 
that  of  sacrifice  of  ability  and  energy  to  the  good 
of  others  is  small,  it  does  not  require  a  prophet 
to  predict  the  result,  so  far  as  the  profession  of 
pastor  is  concerned.  The  decline  in  the  num- 
ber of  young  men  in  training  for  the  ministry, 
not  only  in  comparison  with  the  numbers  being 
educated  for  law,  medicine,  teaching,  and  busi- 
ness, but  absolutely,  is  notorious.  There  are 
fewer  men  in  all  the  theological  schools  of  the 
United  States  to-day  than  ten  years  ago.^  It 
has  been  seriously  proposed  that  women  must 
be  encouraged  to  enter  the  ministry,  to  occupy 
the  pulpits  left  vacant  by  men.^  The  commer- 
cial consideration  is  not  the  only  nor,  perhaps, 
the  chief  reason  for  this.  The  ministry  in  gen- 
eral is  still  comparatively  free  from  the  taint  of 
money-greed.  And  yet  it  is  obviously  becoming 
increasingly  difficult,  as  the  years  go  by,  to  find 
an  adequate  number  of  young  men  of  real 
ability  who  are  willing  to  forego  the  financial 
benefits  which  would  accrue  to  them  in  other 
professions  in  favor  of  the  "ideal"  income  of 
the  ministry. 

It  ought  to  be  sufficiently  evident  that  if  the 

•  Crooker,  "The  Church  of  To-day,"  50,  59. 
'  The  Christian  Advocate  (N.  Y.),  Nov.,  1906. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  193 

churches  are  ever  to  be  composed  of  the  masses 
of  the  people,  and  are  to  be  self-supporting,  as 
in  their  best  estate  they  should  be,  the  economic 
conditions  must  be  such  that  it  will  be  feasible 
for  the  masses  easily  to  meet  the  necessary  ex- 
penses. Salaries  must  be  adequate,  and  church 
buildings  must  be  at  least  "decently"  main- 
tained. These  call  for  money;  they  require 
that  the  church  member  must  have  a  fair  sur- 
plus income. 

The  churches'  ministrations,  however,  should 
not  be  merely  a  bait  to  win  the  workingmen. 
Besides  being  wrong,  this  policy  never  works. 
Absolute  sincerity  toward  the  common  man  is 
necessary;  the  churches  must  be  interested  in 
him  for  his  own  sake,  and  not  as  a  workingman, 
but  as  a  man.  At  the  same  time,  they  must  be 
very  careful  of  his  sensibilities.  They  must  not 
arouse  any  suspicion  that  they  are  patronizing 
him.  "The  church  should  show  the  working 
people  that  it  needs  them,  not  that  they  need 
it."  ^  It  must  be  careful  to  avoid  the  appear- 
ance of  commercialism  in  its  methods  of  raising 
money.  Churches,  like  ministers,  are  held  to 
an  excessive  accountability  which  is  never  de- 
manded of  other  institutions  or  persons. 

The  minister  of  a  properly  constituted  church 

*  Judson,  30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  438. 


194  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

is  in  a  peculiarly  favorable  position  to  interpret 
social  classes  to  each  other.  He  can  be  a  real 
mediator  between  them.  "The  creation  of  a 
sympathetic  relation  between  the  forces  of  labor 
and  capital  is  a  task  of  the  minister,"  writes  Dr. 
Evans.*  Misunderstanding  and  antipathy  be- 
tween these  two  forces  is  partly  chargeable  to 
the  ministers'  neglect  of  this  opportunity. 

The  churches*  interest  in  the  mental  as  well 
as  the  physical  capacities  of  their  workers  and 
of  the  people  should  make  it  unnecessary  to  in- 
sist on  the  performance  of  their  duty  as  educa- 
tional centres.  The  public  schools  in  America 
make  adequate  provision  for  the  mental  train- 
ing of  those  who  are  able  to  take  advantage  of 
them;  but  the  branches  of  education  which 
really  broaden  the  outlook  upon  life  are,  as  a 
rule,  not  reached  until  the  high  school,  and  the 
vast  majority  of  children  drop  out  before  arriv- 
ing at  that  point.  The  spread  of  industrial 
education,  necessary  and  commendable  as  that 
is,  threatens  further  to  contract  the  average 
child's  acquaintance  with  "the  humanities." 
Each  church  might  well  be,  so  far  as  possible, 
a  miniature  University  Extension  centre.  The 
clergy  of  to-day,   especially  in  the   "liberal" 

'  Evans,  "The  Social  Work  of  a  Church  in  a  Factory  Town," 
30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  504. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  195 

churches,  have  not  neglected  wide  reference  to 
literature.  Literature  is  good;  but  what  the 
people  need  more  than  Chaucer  and  Villon  is 
economics  and  sociology,  and  these  the  minis- 
ters should  be  in  position  to  supply.  Especially 
they  should  be  prepared  to  cooperate  in  the 
dissemination  of  correct  principles  of  relief,  and 
in  the  diffusion  of  real  information  about  alco- 
holism, pauperism,  sanitation,  etc. 

The  preacher  must  avoid  becoming  a  politi- 
cian. Democracy  must  be  spiritualized,  but  it 
must  be  by  the  influence  of  the  churches  and 
not  by  their  authority.  Religion  should  be  dis- 
tinguished from  government,  but  not  separated 
from  it.  Politics  is  necessarily  partisan:  that 
the  churches  cannot  afford  to  be.  Political 
issues  often  involve  moral  questions,  and  thus 
come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pulpit;  but 
the  preacher  must  handle  them  as  an  ethicist, 
not  as  a  politician. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MODERN  METHODS 

TF  the  new  spirit  of  the  churches  is  thus  to  be 
one  of  predominantly  social  preaching  and 
social  service,  the  machinery  must  be  moulded 
anew  in  accordance  therewith.  In  a  progres- 
sive age  new  methods  are  always  necessary,  and 
the  churches'  traditional  slowness  and  conserv- 
atism in  regard  to  them  must  be  overcome.  Of 
course  no  cast-iron  rules  can  be  laid  down  in 
advance.  Any  methods  suggested  must  be 
practicable  for  the  ordinary  church,  and  they 
must  be  subject  to  modification  to  fit  the  needs 
of  the  particular  neighborhood  and  time.  One 
thing  may  be  laid  down  as  universally  essential : 
whatever  "attractions'*  the  churches  oflPer  must 
be  such  as  either  cannot  be  obtained  anywhere 
else,  or  else  they  must  be  offered  in  such  a  way 
that  the  people  will  prefer  to  accept  them  from 
a  church.  Thus  a  dance  given  by  a  church  in 
an  ordinary  hall  is  not  different  from  a  dance 
given  by  any  other  organization  in  a  hall,  ex- 
cept that  by  most  people  it  is  likely  to  bedis- 

196 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  197 

criminated  against.  Whereas,  a  dance  given  by 
the  church  in  its  own  halls  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  its  own  officers,  insures  a  refinement  of 
surroundings  which  cannot  be  guaranteed  any- 
where else,  and  is  a  really  attractive  thing. 
Similarly,  warmth,  light  and  music  alone  can- 
not be  relied  upon,  for  these  may  be  had  else- 
where just  as  well.  These  are  essential,  but 
there  must  be  added  to  them  other  features 
more  attractive  than  those  offered  by  the 
churches'  competitors.  It  is  of  no  use  merely  to 
duplicate  other  activities.  The  churches  are 
bound  always  to  originate  or  to  improve.  And 
they  must  be  extremely  careful  to  make  their 
ventures  "go."  Failure,  like  success,  is  cumu- 
lative. 

Occasionally,  especially  among  Baptists  and 
Catholics,  we  find  a  church  held  together  by 
strictness  and  exclusiveness  of  doctrine  and  by 
the  terms  of  church  membership,  or  by  a  gen- 
uine belief  in  the  authority  of  the  church  and 
its  divinely  appointed  priesthood.  But,  as  a 
rule,  Protestant  attempts  based  on  the  authority 
of  the  church  or  on  discipline  fail.  Sometimes 
a  High  Anglican  church  has  been  able  to  en- 
force the  confessional,  but  this  fails  utterly  to 
reach  the  masses  of  the  people.  Even  the  clubs 
started  in  the  churches  are  difficult  to  manage 


198  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

in  any  way  that  would  suit  a  disciplinarian.  If 
they  are  successful  they  tend  to  expand  far  be- 
yond their  own  neighborhoods,  and  conse- 
quently to  become  less  and  less  identified  with 
the  church  in  which  they  originated.  Their 
tendency  to  eliminate  from  their  meetings  all 
formal  "religion'*  has  been  already  noted.  The 
day  of  external  religious  authority  is  irrevocably 
passing. 

Allied  to  this  disinclination  to  accept  author- 
ity is  the  demand  for  more  democracy  in  the 
churches.  The  religion  of  the  common  school 
system  of  America  is  democracy,  and  the  people 
have  learned  to  expect  and  to  demand  it  in  all 
their  cooperative  activities.  A  democratic 
church  organization  will  get  and  hold  people 
conspicuously,  whereas  the  failure  of  undemo- 
cratic missions  and  of  plutocratic,  "exclusive" 
congregations  is  often  observed.  The  church 
of  the  future  must  be  democratic. 

Another  thing  which  the  people  are  learning 
from  the  common  schools  is  the  real  inessen- 
tialness  of  the  minor  differences  between 
churches.  The  evils  of  competition  and  the 
advantages  of  cooperation  are  just  as  great  in 
the  case  of  the  churches  as  elsewhere  in  modern 
life.  It  is  the  churches'  duty  to  unite.  Not  that 
important  creedal  differences  are  likely  to  be,  or 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  199 

should  be,  overcome;  but  it  would  be  the  part 
of  wisdom  at  present  to  subordinate  these,  in 
the  presence  of  the  greater  problems  of  society/ 
Moreover,  no  one  denies  that  sectarianism  has 
been  carried  to  an  unjustifiable  extreme;  and  it 
is  possible  that  cooperative  sociological  work 
may  be  a  means  of  healing  many  minor  breaches 
and  getting  rid  of  the  petty  sectarianism  which 
is  the  bane  of  organized  Christianity.^  Federa- 
tion of  churches  in  cities,  towns  and  counties, 
for  administrative  and  social  purposes,'  could 
not  help  being  a  good  thing  for  efficiency.  For 
one  thing,  it  would  remedy  the  present  poor 
distribution  of  churches.  The  country  towns 
would  not  have  one  church  to  80  people,  and 
the  cities  one  to  3,000.  Proper  cooperation 
would  also  make  it  possible  for  each  church  to 
have  assigned  to  it  a  definite  task  with  the  under- 
standing that  it,  and  it  alone,  would  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  its  performance.  Each  church 
should  be  made  accountable  for  the  unchurched 
masses  in  its  immediate  neighborhood,  native  or 
foreign,  and  should  not  be  interfered  with. 
It  must  be  recognized  that  methods  and  pro- 

*  Ross,  "Sin  and  Society,"  85. 

•  For  an  exceedingly  significant  illustration  of  the  modem  ten- 
dency toward  the  unification  of  religion  about  a  social  centre,  see 
"A  Civic  Revival,"  Outlook,  July  11,  1908. 

'  Strong,  "New  Era,"  312. 


200  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

grammes  which  work  in  the  country  will  not 
often  do  in  the  city.  The  city  has  its  own  pecul- 
iar problems,  which  must  be  solved  in  their  own 
way,  and  by  men  raised  and  trained  in  city  work. 
It  is  in  the  cities  that  the  policy  of  "aggressive 
evangelism'*  is  likely  to  be  most  successful.* 
"  Seats  Free,  Everybody  Welcome,"  is  not  a  suf- 
ficient invitation.  Revivals,  shop-services,  sum- 
mer-tents, extensive  advertising,  etc.,  are  meth- 
ods of  securing  attention  whose  efficacy  has  been 
often  demonstrated.  Every  church  must  be 
evangelistic  in  some  considerable  degree;  and 
it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  not  only  the 
"evangelical"  churches  that  can  be  evangelistic. 
The  duty  of  social  evangelization  rests  upon  all 
churches,  and  neither  "liberal"  nor  "evangeli- 
cal" is  as  yet  sufficiently  awake  to  that  fact. 
The  "evangelical"  churches  are  subject  to  a 
special  risk  in  this  connection :  the  risk  of  mak- 
ing the  mistake  that  the  masses  can  be  "saved" 
as  masses,  and  not  as  individuals.  The  soul  is 
a  delicate  thing,  like  a  watch;  souls  "saved"  by 
the  wholesale  are  like  watches  made  by  machin- 
ery: they  are  cheap,  and  don't  wear  well. 

Perhaps  the  most  characteristically  city  work 
is  that  of  the  institutional  churches.  This  work 
recognizes  that  the  churches  must  reach   the 

•  Stelzle,  "Christianity's  Storm  Centre,"  passim. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  201 

masses  on  the  plane  where  the  masses  live;  that 
they  must  lead  to  the  spiritual  through  the  phys- 
ical. The  best  institutional  churches  are  thor- 
oughly religious,  and  religious  in  the  best  sense: 
the  sense  that  covers  every  phase  of  life.  They 
recognize  the  duty  and  the  value  of  all-day  and 
every-day  ministration.  "You  cannot  get  an- 
gels out  of  a  block  of  marble  with  a  stroke  of  the 
chisel  once  a  week."  *  And  so  they  keep  after 
their  people  daytime  and  evening,  seven  days  in 
the  week,  working  along  every  line,  physical, 
mental  and  moral,  through  which  a  spiritually 
helpful  uplift  may  be  given.  In  this  kind  of 
work  the  absolute  necessity  of  cooperation  be- 
tween churches  again  becomes  apparent,  in  the 
interests  of  harmony  and  efficiency.  Within  the 
church  itself  a  combination  of  democracy  with 
strong  autocracy,  as  at  St.  George's  in  New 
York,  seems  to  be  most  successful.  The  leader 
must,  of  course,  be  a  man  of  religious  fervor  and 
vast  administrative  ability.  The  most  success- 
ful volunteer  workers  are  those  who  have  been 
brought  up  in  the  church,  have  derived  the  most 
benefit  from  it,  and  are  consequently  most  inter- 
ested in  it.  Trained  workers  are  necessary  in 
some  departments,  and  sometimes  these  cannot 
be  secured  without  the  payment  of  salaries; 

*  Judson,  30  Ann.  Am.  Ac,  439. 


202  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

but,  other  things  being  equal,  volunteer  work  is 
best,  because  most  spontaneous. 

The  rock  on  which  institutional  churches  and 
missions  are  most  likely  to  break  is  the  matter 
of  relief.  Dr.  Rainsford  found,  of  course,  that 
he  would  have  to  make  the  sittings  in  his  church 
free  before  anything  else  could  be  done.  But 
beyond  that  the  parishioner  pays  for  what  he 
gets,  though  not  always  the  cost  price.  The 
great  success  of  the  Baptist  Shoreditch  Taber- 
nacle in  London,*  which  uses  no  church  relief 
at  all,  is  very  encouraging  to  those  whose  fear 
of  its  dangers  would  lead  them  to  do  away  with 
it  altogether.  The  combination  of  religion  with 
indiscriminate  relief  almost  always  detracts  from 
the  success  of  both.  And  the  spectacle  of  sev- 
eral churches  in  the  same  neighborhood  making 
bids  for  the  people  with  indiscriminate  dona- 
tions leads  Charles  Booth  to  warn  us  that  the 
special  dangers  arising  from  degrading  forms  of 
competition  apply  to  charity  quite  as  much  as 
to  industry,  and  call  no  less  imperatively  for  in- 
tervention.' In  the  absence  of  individual  and 
cooperative  regulation,  public  opinion  always 
intervenes  with  its  strong  disapproval. 

Although  it  is  true  that  in  general  church 
privileges  should  not  be  sold,   and  that  self- 

*  Booth,  /.  c,  II,  8i.  » Ibid.,  45- 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  203 

support  is  not  the  most  important  thing  for  an 
institutional  church,  yet  the  fact  remains  that 
those  are  weak  churches  in  which  a  few  indi- 
viduals pay  all  the  expenses.  One  may  be  pau- 
perized as  truly  by  free  "religion'*  as  by  free 
blankets  or  free  tobacco.  In  its  worst  phases 
the  recipients  of  such  bounty  develop  a  moral 
flabbinesss  and  shiftlessnes  which  are  far  in- 
deed from  religious;  at  the  best,  it  works  insidi- 
ously against  that  individual  independence 
which  is  essential  to  democracy. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to 
assume  that  the  people  will  be  satisfied  with  any 
unnecessary  stinting  of  expense.  "The  masses 
in  New  York  require  the  very  best  preaching, 
architecture  and  music."  The  same  is  true  of 
the  masses  everywhere.  They  are  so  well 
trained  by  their  "betters"  in  the  incidents  of 
luxury  that  they  will  not  have  anything  "cheap," 
even  as  a  gift.  Besides,  cheap  things  are  not 
usually  attractive.  Evidence  of  costliness  is  to 
most  people  the  only  guarantee  of  aesthetic 
quality.  The  advantages  of  appeal  to  the  aes- 
thetic sense  are  generally  recognized.  It  is  util- 
ized to  great  effect  by  the  Catholic  church 
everywhere.  The  value  of  music,  from  every 
point  of  view,  has  been  acknowledged,  with  few 
exceptions,  from  time  immemorial.     The  Prot- 


204  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

estants  would  do  well  if,  instead  of  spending 
annually  millions  on  the  heathen  in  foreign 
lands,  they  would  spend  the  same  or  more  mill- 
ions on  the  heathen  at  home.  Small  expendi- 
ture in  home  missionary  work,  as  in  any  other 
kind  of  advertising,  gets  small  results. 

The  following  paragraph  from  a  denomina- 
tional paper  sums  up  the  situation  admirably:  * 
"Our  city  missions  are  mostly  a  disgrace  to  us. 
And  the  people  whom  we  are  attempting  to 
reach  know  it.  Their  minds  are  often  quite  as 
keen  as  ours.  The  trouble  with  our  churches  is 
that  they  are  not  willing  to  spend  sufficient 
money  and  to  show  a  real  interest  in  these  city- 
mission  efforts.  A  rich  city  church,  with  a  home 
of  its  own  costing  thousands  of  dollars,  carpeted, 
cushioned,  adorned  with  rich  pews,  pipe-organ, 
and  stained  windows,  will  have  as  a  *  mission* 
a  wretched,  unpainted  hut  on  a  side  street, 
alongside  negro  cabins,  with  battered  chairs, 
worn-out  hymnals,  no  facilities  for  Sunday- 
school  work  or  the  physical  comfort  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  expect  the  *poor*  to  crowd  into  it. 
The  kind  of  poor  we  have  in  our  cities  of  mod- 
erate size  will  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  Nor  can 
they  be  blamed.  Neither  will  they  go  to  service 
in  the  rich  church  itself — at  least  not  till  their 

•  Cited  in  Literary  Digest,  July  i8,  1908,  p.  86. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  205 

wages  have  increased  till  they  can  dress  as  they 
see  others  dress." 

There  must  be  an  increased  sense  of  individ- 
ualized responsibility  among  the  church  mem- 
bers. The  conception  of  the  universality  of  re- 
ligion makes  the  layman's  opportunity;  and 
each  church  member  can  and  should  be  a  social 
missionary.  Pastors  must  know  how  to  set  their 
people  to  work.  There  must  be  closer  and 
more  effective  organization  within  the  churches. 
The  pastor  must  be  a  specialist  in  such  admin- 
istrative work;  and  his  authority,  established  by 
training  and  experience,  must  be  recognized 
and  maintained  in  the  "congregational'* 
churches  as  well  as  in  the  (nominally)  less 
democratic  denominations.  The  defect  of  de- 
mocracy has  always  been  its  unwillingness  to 
defer  to  the  leadership  of  ability;  the  churches 
might  demonstrate  its  practicability.  Leader- 
ship is  as  essential  in  church  administration  as 
in  any  other.  Lack  of  it  results  in  inefficiency 
and  failure,  and  keeps  men  out  of  the  churches; 
with  it,  a  small  body  of  workers  can,  by  the 
cumulative  effects  of  success,  make  an  impor- 
tant institution. 

Personal  evangelism  is  a  need  created  by  the 
present  situation:  there  must  be  a  transmission 
of  the  Spirit  by  a  universal  contact  which  can 


2o6  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

come  only  from  the  laity.  Leaving  everything 
to  the  minister  makes  neglect  of  the  non-church- 
goer inevitable.  When  the  minister  can  call  on 
two  hundred  families,  each  member  of  his  con- 
gregation might  reasonably  be  expected  to  attend 
to  two.  The  absence  of  this  kind  of  per- 
sonal effort  is  apt  to  be  taken  by  the  unchurched 
as  evidence  of  indifference,  of  lack  of  spiritual 
life.  This  variety  of  personal  work  is  needed 
also  for  its  tonic  effects  on  the  worker  himself. 
The  idea  is  altogether  too  prevalent  that  if  one 
contributes  to  the  financial  support  of  a  church 
one  is  doing  all  that  can  be  expected.  Money 
is  no  substitute  for  personal  service.  To  the 
masses  the  check  of  a  successful  business  man 
does  not  represent  a  sacrifice;  and  sacrificial 
atonement  is  still  necessary.  That  is  why  the 
Salvation  Army  and  the  army  of  settlement 
workers  get  results,  while  the  missions  languish. 
The  arrest  of  the  modern  tendency  toward 
the  break-up  of  the  home  life  would  contribute 
materially  toward  the  good  of  the  churches; 
and  the  opportunity  of  home-rehabilitation  is 
one  which  is  peculiarly  for  the  laity.  For  the 
need  of  personal  help  in  improving  the  home — 
and  only  by  improvement  can  it  be  saved — calls 
especially  for  house-to-house  visitation  on  a 
scale  which  is  impossible  for  the  clergy.     This 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  207 

process  would  also  afford  that  personal  contact 
which  is  needed  by  both  the  church-goer  and  the 
unchurched,  and  would  accomplish  that  wider 
distribution  of  the  personally  good  and  self-sac- 
rificing in  the  slums  and  elsewhere  where  their 
example  and  influence  are  needed. 

There  are  numerous  special  methods  resorted 
to  in  special  cases,  whose  value  must  be  deter- 
mined each  time  solely  by  their  success  or  fail- 
ure. For  example,  the  "High  Church"  meth- 
od, aside  from  its  theological  bearings,  is  some- 
times successful  and  sometimes  not.  Booth  re- 
ports that  in  one  case  a  High  Church  service, 
bright  and  short,  with  strong  appeal  to  the  im- 
agination and  little  strain  on  the  attention, 
secured  a  genuine  congregation  of  quite  poor 
people.  Occasionally,  the  insistence  on  con- 
fession is  successful.  But  on  the  whole.  High 
Church  efforts  in  London  are  not  heartily  re- 
sponded to.  There  is  a  general  opposition  to 
ritualism;  "simple  gospel'*  services  reach  more 
people  than  "Romanism";  elaborate  services 
at  St.  Stephen's  fail  completely.  Booth  con- 
cludes that  the  value  of  High  Church  methods 
is  extremely  doubtful. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  an  appeal  to  the  spec- 
tacular, without  the  objectionable  ritualistic 
features,  is  usually  more  or  less  successful.    A 


2o8  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

free  use  of  sensational  methods  made  even  a 
High  Church  prosperous  under  adverse  circum- 
stances in  one  case  in  London.  The  great  effi- 
cacy of  these  methods  is  demonstrated  in  Lon- 
don in  the  North  Central  Wesleyan  Mission,* 
St.  James  Hall,  the  United  Methodist  Free 
Church  (built  in  the  shape  of  a  lighthouse),  and 
other  instances  v^rhich  might  be  multiplied  with- 
out end  from  England  and  America.  On  the 
other  hand  there  are  churches,  and  many  of 
them,  which  succeed  fairly  well  within  their 
sphere,  without  resort  to  spectacular  extremes — 
which  have  their  (too  frequently  pointed  out) 
dangers.  This  is  a  matter  which  must  be  deter- 
mined in  each  individual  case  by  the  character 
of  the  surrounding  population  and  the  personal 
qualifications  and  temperament  of  the  minister. 
The  value  of  the  use  of  the  secular  press  in  a 
modern  way  is  receiving  increasing  recognition. 
The  Presbyterians  in  America  have  a  "Press 
Bureau,"  and  its  manager  bears  eloquent  testi- 


•  Booth,  /.  c,  II,  125:  "The  North  Central  Wesleyan  Mission's 
success  is  due  to  exceptional  methods.  The  secret  is  the  breathing 
of  human  life  into  every  function  of  religion;  or  it  may  be  put  the 
other  way,  as  the  introduction  of  religion  into  every  function  of 
human  life.  The  energy  evolved  by  this  method  is  astonishing. 
Everything  hums  with  activity,  and  is  carried  on  with  what  the 
Americans  describe  as  a  hurrah  of  enthusiasm.  There  would 
seem  to  be  no  time  for  meditation.  The  quieter  influences  of  re- 
ligion are  lost;  but  there  is  assuredly  no  time  for  doubt." 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  209 

mony  to  its  good  results.  The  Unitarian  Church 
in  America  has  recently  developed  what  it  calls 
"The  Paragraph  Pulpit,"  which  is  reaching 
effectively  a  class  of  people  who  could  never  be 
induced  to  enter  a  church,  and  yet  are  open  to 
the  message  offered  them,  and  are  in  the  course 
of  time  subject  to  "conversion"  to  a  better 
understanding. 

Mr.  Booth  suggested  that  a  touch  of  fashion 
would  fill  some  neglected  churches;  and  the 
history  of  one  prominent  denomination  in 
America  verifies  this  fully.  The  only  disadvan- 
tage is  that  it  fills  the  churches  in  question  only 
with  fashionable  people,  and  draws  those  from 
other  churches.  This  suggestion  was  probably 
ironical;  the  following  idea  is  simply  thought- 
less: a  London  church  conceived  the  notion  of 
having  services  much  earlier  than  usual,  so  that 
wives  could  get  home  in  time  to  cook  dinner; 
overlooking  the  fact  that  the  working  people,  too, 
like  to  sleep  late  on  Sunday.  However,  this  is 
not  the  place  to  go  into  a  detailed  discussion  of 
miscellaneous  church  methods. 

But  just  one  word  must  be  said  with  reference 
to  churches  in  small  towns  and  in  the  country. 
It  would  be  as  great  a  mistake  for  them  to  at- 
tempt to  take  over  bodily  the  plans  and  meth- 
ods of  city  churches  as  for  the  latter  to  model 


210  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

their  methods  on  the  needs  and  experiences  of  the 
former.  Habits  of  thought  and  of  life,  social 
customs  and  traditions,  are  entirely  different 
from  those  in  cities,  and  they  also  differ  from  one 
town  to  another.  Each  locality  is  a  separate 
problem  and  requires  separate  study.  Peculiar 
qualifications  are  demanded  in  the  minister  of 
the  rural  church,  such  qualifications  as  are  most 
likely  to  be  found  in  men  born  and  bred  in  such 
communities.  The  city  minister  is  no  more 
likely  to  "fit'*  in  the  country  than  the  country 
minister  in  the  city. 

There  is  need  for  serious  discussion  of  the 
question  of  the  superfluity  of  churches  in  small 
towns.  Sectarianism  has  here  done  its  deadliest 
work,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there  are  too 
many  churches  in  most  villages.  These  churches, 
as  a  rule,  are  too  small  and  too  poor  to  do 
effective  work;  and  their  mutual  jealousies  and 
rivalries  impede  all  efforts  at  cooperation. 
Their  members  are  exceedingly  apt,  except 
under  extraordinary  circumstances,  to  develop 
that  selfish  and  narrow  outlook  which  so  often 
goes  with  suburban  and  provincial  life.  Alto- 
gether it  is  questionable  whether  Gohre's  dic- 
tum that  "the  small  parish  church  must  be  re- 
vived "  ^  should  apply  to  America,  whatever 
'  Gbhre,  /.  c,  217. 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  211 

may  be  its  justification  in  Germany.  Says  Mr. 
Crooker:  ^  "Religious  destitution  has  fallen 
upon  many  towns  and  villages  because  there 
are  too  many  churches  in  them."  The  truth 
seems  to  be  that  here  "we  need  a  new  and  brief 
period  of  Christian  martyrdom,  in  which  many 
churches  shall  suffer  death  for  the  glory  of 
God."  =» 

*  Crocker,  /.  c,  14. 
'  Strong,  /.  c,  327. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  MODERN  MINISTER 

T7INALLY,  we  must  not  forget  that  as  the 
■*■  salvation  of  society  can  be  wrought  only 
through  individuals,  in  the  ultimate  analysis,  so 
also  with  the  salvation  of  the  churches.  For 
better  or  for  worge,  the  churches,  or  at  any  rate, 
the  Protestant  churches,  depend  upon  their 
ministers;  the  condition  of  the  churches  at  any 
given  time  is  a  fair  index  of  the  quality  of  their 
ministers.  It  is  the  personality  of  the  man  that 
makes  or  mars  the  individual  church;  and  it  is 
the  collective  ideals  and  practices  of  the  minis- 
ters which  determines  whether  the  churches  as 
a  whole  shall  be  successful  or  otherwise  in  their 
relations  with  the  people. 

That  the  minister  must  be  a  good  man  goes 
without  saying.  The  influence  of  personal  ex- 
ample is  immeasurable,  for  good  or  for  bad. 
The  efficacy  of  personal  relations  depends  upon 
the  character  of  the  "parson";  and  it  has  been 
asserted  that  more  has  been  accomplished  for 
the  church  through  personal  contact  with  the 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  213 

masses  than  through  all  its  institutionalized 
work.  It  is  time,  however,  to  call  ministers* 
attention  to  the  fact  that  goodness  is  no  longer 
identified  with  piety  or  devoutness.  A  minister 
is  usually  taught  that  he  must  be  better  than 
other  men;  and  often  the  only  way  he  can  be 
better  than  some  of  the  people  in  his  parish  is 
in  the  assumption  of  an  excessive  devoutness. 
But  this  at  once  creates  in  him  the  "  holier  than 
thou"  feeling,  and  ends  his  further  usefulness. 
This  is  not  a  pious  age. 

We  must  also  have  a  higher  average  of  preach- 
ing ability  than  the  churches  can  at  present 
boast.  The  minister  can  no  longer  rely  upon  the 
"sacredness"  of  his  calling  to  secure  him  a 
hearing.  He  must  meet  the  demands  of  the 
populace;  and  those  demands  are  numerous 
and  exacting.  He  must  have  unlimited  famil- 
iarity with  all  modem  thought  on  all  modern 
subjects;  he  must  be  able  to  discuss  the  ethics 
of  employers'  liability  Sunday  morning;  social- 
ism Sunday  evening;  industrial  education  at  a 
teachers*  meeting  Monday;  municipal  govern- 
ment on  Tuesday;  Browning  Wednesday  after- 
noon, and  the  efficacy  of  prayer  Wednesday 
evening;  talk  to  the  Woman's  Club  Thursday 
afternoon  on  current  topics,  and  to  the  High 
School  Friday  afternoon  on  the  duties  of  citi- 


214  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

zenship;  and  Saturday  he  may  be  asked  to  con- 
duct a  Nature-study  excursion,  working  out  in 
the  meantime  his  next  sermon  on  the  Roycian 
conception  of  immortality,  which,  of  course,  he 
must  put  into  popularly  intelligible  form. 

Intelligibility  is  a  virtue  too  little  appreciated 
by  many  preachers.  With  the  shifting  of  the 
churches  from  the  masses  of  the  people  with 
only  slight  education  to  the  wealthier  and  pre- 
sumably more  cultured  classes  has  come  a  style 
of  preaching  which  is  aimed  at  the  latter,  but 
which,  in  fact,  often  misses  its  mark  altogether. 
There  must  be  sound  and  deep  thinking  in  every 
sermon,  and  such  thinking  is  not  easily  followed 
or  grasped  even  when  most  clearly  presented. 
Preaching  must  be  intellectual;  but  if  it  is  to 
accomplish  any  purpose,  it  must  be  understood. 
Its  aim  is  to  lead  people  to  do  or  to  be  some- 
thing better  than  their  present  doing  or  being. 
It  must  persuade.  The  preacher  therefore  must 
use  every  means  of  persuasion;  and  if  he  finds 
that  a  baldly  logical  presentation  of  a  thought  is 
not  effective  (and  it  rarely  is),  he  should  not 
hesitate  to  avil  himself  of  any  other  manner  or 
method  which  will  secure  the  desired  result. 

And  the  minister  must  display  the  most  un- 
questionable sincerity  of  thought  and  expression, 
or  the  people  will  none  of  him.    Any  suspicion 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  215 

that  he  is  subservient  to  financial  or  ecclesias- 
tical influence,  that  it  is  not  his  mind  but  an- 
other's which  is  working,  is  sure  to  be  fatal. 
Then  his  best  thought  must  be  presented  with 
freshness  and  brilliancy,  or  the  people  will  stay 
home  and  read  the  newspapers  and  magazines, 
where  the  editors  are  at  great  pains  to  insure 
freshness  and  brilliancy.  Then  he  must  have 
energy  and  histrionic  ability;  and  if  he  hasn't 
them  by  nature,  he  must  acquire  them  by  art. 
With  it  all  he  must  avoid  any  tinge  of  feminin- 
ity. His  bearing  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it 
must  be  one  of  essential  manliness;  neither 
conceited,  nor  overbearing,  nor  over-refined. 
He  must  be  always  a  gentleman,  but  never  a  fop. 
In  this  connection  must  be  noticed  a  mistaken 
policy  pursued  by  some  churches  in  keeping 
their  old  ministers  in  full  activity  long  after 
their  strength  has  ceased  to  be  equal  to  the 
tasks  imposed  upon  them.  We  can  all  call  to 
mind  famous  ministers  whose  old  age  was  a  ver- 
itable sunset  glow  of  beauty  and  power.  And 
yet  it  must  be  admitted  these  cases  are  rare. 
More  often  advancing  years  bring  failing  health 
and  failing  mental  grasp,  which  are,  perhaps, 
not  so  much  noticed  by  the  minister's  contem- 
poraries, but  are  only  too  obvious  to  the  younger 
generation  growing  up  under  him,  and  perhaps 


2i6  THE  CHURCHES  AND 

leaving  the  church  rather  than  giving  voice  to 
their  real  feelings.  Over-long  pastorates  have 
been  the  death  of  many  a  church. 

There  is  great  danger  also  in  the  practice  of 
retaining  an  ex-minister,  retired  on  account  of 
age,  in  connection  with  the  church  as  pastor- 
emeritus.  There  is  in  this  something  as  com- 
plimentary to  the  church  which  thus  shows  its 
appreciation  of  a  life  of  ability  and  service  as 
there  is  to  the  minister  thus  honored.  But  ex- 
perience has  shown  that,  with  human  nature 
constituted  as  it  is,  embarrassments  are  bound 
to  ensue.  The  pastor-emeritus,  by  the  inevi- 
table processes  of  human  life,  is  a  generation  be- 
hind; but  he  rarely  knows  it  himself,  and  his 
friends  are  not  kind  enough  to  him  and  to  the 
church  to  make  him  aware  of  it.  It  is  difficult 
for  him  to  realize  that  he  is  retired;  that  his  po- 
sition is  an  honorary  one,  relieved  of  responsi- 
bilities and  consequently  of  official  duties.  And 
so  he  takes  a  natural  interest  in  the  way  his  suc- 
cessor does  things,  and  if  his  successor  happens 
to  do  them  in  a  way  to  which  he  is  not  accus- 
tomed, he  is  apt  to  betray  his  apprehension  that 
the  church  is  being  ruined  by  departures  from 
the  ways  of  the  fathers.  In  parishes  where, 
through  his  long  residence  and  intimate  rela- 
tions with  the  people  from  their  childhood,  his 


THE  WAGE  EARNERS  217 

influence,  though  unofficial,  is  still  considerable, 
this  cannot  help  but  lead  to  difficulties.  Re- 
tirement with  the  understanding  that  the  ex- 
minister  is  to  sever  all  official  relations  with  his 
parish  when  he  leaves  its  active  ministry  is  the 
remedy  for  this. 

That  ministers  should  be  high-grade  social 
leaders  has  already  been  pointed  out.  That 
they  must  be  hard  workers  is  surely  obvious. 
"Perspiration  is  just  as  important  as  inspira- 
tion, and  sometimes  it  accomplishes  more,'* 
says  Mr.  Stelzle.  A  minister  cannot  afford  to 
be  too  busy  to  attend  to  any  request  for  help  of 
any  kind  which  comes  to  him.  The  plea  of  pre- 
occupation is  never  accepted  from  a  clergyman. 
He  must  expect  to  work  eighteen  hours  a  day,  if 
necessary,  to  help  secure  an  eight-hour  day  for 
the  rest  of  humanity.  His  life  is  a  life  of  service, 
as  he  must  be  fully  aware  before  he  ventures 
into  it;  and  as  there  is  no  possibility  of  over- 
production, there  are  no  natural  or  legal  limits 
on  the  length  of  the  service-day. 

Finally,  a  matter  of  clerical  education  calls 
for  attention.  Professor  Peabody  has  remarked :  * 
"Neither  ethical  passion  nor  rhetorical  genius 
equips  a  preacher  for  economic  judgments." 
Yet,  as  we  have  seen,  the  insistent  need  of  this 

'  Peabody,  /.  c,  35. 


2i8  THE  CHURCHES 

time  is  for  preachers  capable  of  making  sound 
economic  and  sociological  judgments.  The  re- 
proach of  their  ignorance  must  be  taken  away. 
They  must  become  familiar  with  sociology  and 
economics  in  all  their  branches.  They  must 
study  them  at  first  hand,  by  actual  contact  and 
by  investigation  of  "sources."^  Their  formal 
theological  education  must  be  broadened  so  as 
to  include  these  subjects.  A  few  of  the  leading 
schools  provide  for  them  now — Harvard  Divin- 
ity and  others  connected  with  the  great  non- 
sectarian  universities;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  minis- 
ters* ignorance  of  the  social  topics  in  which  all 
the  rest  of  the  population  is  vitally  interested 
is  as  dense  at  though  they  did  not  live  on  this 
planet.  Nowhere  is  attention  to  this  sufficiently 
insisted  upon.  Education  in  theological  semi- 
naries should  be  thoroughly  modernized  and 
"secularized."  Whatever  may  be  the  case  for 
the  Biblical  scholar  and  prospective  professor, 
for  the  active  minister  economics  and  sociology 
are  vastly  more  important  than  Hebrew  and 
Aramaic;  the  vital  concerns  of  Europeans  and 
Americans  of  to-day  are  much  better  worth 
knowing  than  the  habits  of  the  Hittites  and  the 
Perizzites. 


*  But  avoiding  the  indecencies  of  the  amateur  "aociologist"  so 
amusingly  depicted  by  one  of  the  victims — Stelzle,  /.  c,  loi. 


CONCLUSION 

TN  concluding  this  study  one  is  minded  to 
consider  whether,  after  all,  there  is  hope  for 
the  continuance  of  organized  religion.  It  is  un- 
deniable that  the  people  as  a  whole  have  de- 
serted the  churches,  and  that  it  is  at  least  partly 
the  churches*  "fault."  I  have  tried  to  point  out 
the  way  the  churches,  as  it  seems  to  me,  must  go 
to  regain  the  people;  but  it  is  the  only  way,  and 
it  is  an  unquestionably  hard  one. 

The  sum  of  the  situation  is  this:  The  churches* 
old  methods  and  ideas  have  failed;  they  must 
change  their  methods  and  ideas  to  conform 
with  the  predominant  social  interests  of  the 
day.  The  churches  must  be  thoroughly  socialized. 
If  that  can  be  done  only  at  the  expense  of 
"historical  continuity'*  and  the  other  fetiches 
of  the  study,  by  all  means  let  them  go.  They 
are  worth  nothing  in  comparison  with  religion. 
And  the  ultimate  preservation  of  religion  de- 
pends upon  its  continued  institutionalization. 
It  is  easy  to  be  optimistic  about  the  "  religion  of 
the  unchurched";   there  is  undoubtedly  a  great 

219 


220  THE  CHURCHES 

deal  of  religion  among  them,  inherited  and  ab- 
sorbed; but  it  is  indefinite  and  chaotic,  and  is 
gradually  thinning  out  and  disappearing. 

But  humanity  will  not  let  religion  disappear 
entirely.  Evolution  is  a  growth  of  the  Spirit; 
progress  and  civilization  exist  only  in,  by  and 
through  the  Spirit.  There  must  be  an  awaken- 
ing some  day.  The  only  question  is,  Will  the 
churches  of  to-day  see  their  present  opportunity 
and  grasp  it,  or  will  they  struggle  on  fitfully  until 
humanity  comes  to  their  rescue,  hut  with  a  new 
religion  of  its  own  ?  The  call  is  dear  enough; 
will  the  churches  heed  it  ? 


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